Author | Lightnews

codeMonkey23

@codemonkey23.bsky.social

1.2K followers 370 following 1.3K posts

1. PMing me is almost certainly a bad idea. 2. I'm here to signal-boost, primarily. 3. If you wanna argue with me, I probably won't, as I have stuff I should be doing, but I'll happily block you, so I don't have to worry about it later, either.

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codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 4h

You don’t need a weatherman
To know which way the wind blows

codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 4h

Former English prof here: "almost literally" absolutely means it didn't happen.

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Your pissed off grandma @anomaly100.bsky.social · 1d

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codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 4h

Since dropping their "don't be evil" ethos, and all the other fuckery, why should we assume the company with one of the largest data centers on the planet won't have their thumb on the scale?

codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 4h

Ka$h invariably looks like there's something very wrong going on inside his head.

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Lucia Romano, MBA @luciaromano.bsky.social · 23h

This is the clearest way to explain it.

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Ian Carrillo @iansociologo.bsky.social · 5h

Tapping the sign

Why Underachievers Dominate Secret Police Organizations: Evidence from Autocratic Argentina
Adam Scharpf and Christian Gläßel

Autocrats depend on a capable secret police. Anecdotal evidence, however, often characterizes agents as surprisingly mediocre in skill and intellect. To explain this puzzle, this article focuses on the career incentives underachieving individuals face in the regular security apparatus. Low-performing officials in hierarchical organizations have little chance of being promoted or filling lucrative positions. To salvage their careers, these officials are willing to undertake burdensome secret police work. Using data on all 4,287 officers who served in autocratic Argentina (1975-83), we study biographic differences between secret police agents and the entire recruitment pool. We find that low-achieving officers were stuck within the regime hierarchy, threatened with discharge, and thus more likely to join the secret police for future benefits. The study demonstrates how state bureaucracies breed mundane career concerns that produce willing enforcers and cement violent regimes. This has implications for the understanding of autocratic consolidation and democratic breakdown.

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The Tennessee Holler @thetnholler.bsky.social · 5h

2023: Gov. Bill Lee signs record tax break for corporations

2024: Lee signs new record tax giveaway for corporations ($2B most of which went out of state)

2025, Jan: Lee signs $1.1B voucher handout to private school parents

2025, Oct: Lee says state can’t afford to feed kids

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codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 4h

palpable hit.

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NY Times Pitchbot @nytpitchbot.bsky.social · 5h

Liberal purity tests are out of control. You can't even have Nazi tattoos now.

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Victor Ray @victorerikray.bsky.social · 5h

I read this in Parenti's Lockdown America decades ago as an undergrad, and...it stayed with me.

In 1965 only four states mandated police training; more than twenty states did not even have minimum educational and literacy requirements for their recruits. A Department of Justice study noted with concern that both barbers and beauticians, on average, were required to train more than three times as long as the average American cop. In Detroit most officers came from the bottom 25 percent of their high school class, and this was not a unique situation. One regional LEAA administrator relayed the story of a sheriff in Missouri who was totally illiterate and signed his grant applications with an X.

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Helen Kennedy @helenkennedy.bsky.social · 5h

The tiny little sliver of encouraging lining is that they are having to dramatically lower their standards and up their signing bonuses to get anyone to join. I thought there were more racist violent goons around than it seems there are.

Joe Kassabian @jkass99.bsky.social · 12h

New ICE recruiting methods have resulted in half of this group of absolute winners failing AN OPEN BOOK TEST

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Adam Parkhomenko @adamparkhomenko.bsky.social · 19h

I’ve been saying for a long time that Democrats should be holding press conferences in front of the White House daily. Now they should be holding press conferences daily in front of the destruction of the East Wing.

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George Conway 🇺🇸🚫👑🐸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 20h

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Ben Schwartz @benschwartz.bsky.social · 22h

the image is a tweet of trump saying, "I have authorized the Federal Government to arrest anyone who vandalizes or destroys any monument, statue or other such Federal property in the U.S. with up to 10 years in prison, per the Veteran’s Memorial Preservation Act, or such other laws that may be pertinent....." at 3:46 AM · Jun 23, 2020

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jerseyjohn1.bsky.social @jerseyjohn1.bsky.social · 1d

They hate being ridiculed⤵️

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#BlueStormComin1🌪️👊🔥🇺🇸 @bluestormcomin1.bsky.social · 21h

Correct

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codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 1d

My favorite version (though I've barely paid attention since then, honestly).

codeMonkey23 @codemonkey23.bsky.social · 1d

I believe they are referencing, consciously or un-, Sturgeon's Law, which I also agree with but won't try to defend, as I don't have the attention span: "ninety percent of everything is crap."