Craig M. Ranapia
@craigmranapia.bsky.social
1.9K followers 750 following 23K posts
"This heaven gives me migraine." Old enough to know better at the ends of the earth (New Zealand). I am large and contain multitudes, all of them intensely irritating. (Same-sex) married. Catholic. Conservative-ish. Cis-male. Jane Austen cultist.
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craigmranapia.bsky.social
But it's interesting how the crushingly ambiguous final scene of the miniseries adaptation did... and good on David Simon and Ed Burns for having the stones to go all the way rather than replicate what I found the massive cop-out in the novel.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=uO7b...
The Plot Against America - Election Day, Ending
YouTube video by adreon
www.youtube.com
craigmranapia.bsky.social
Uh, oh. Dirty Grandpa's talking to his imaginary girlfriends who live in a residential care facility out of state again...
atrupar.com
Trump: "The people of Chicago are walking around with MAGA hats. You have women, beautiful Black women, walking around with MAGA hats. 'Please let the president in and we don't care how he does it ... bring in the Marines.'"
craigmranapia.bsky.social
"Centrist" Democrats would be winning a lot more if they were this good at flipping bad faith RW framing into talking about their agenda and values in an authentic, relatable voice.
atrupar.com
Mamdani: "I just want to speak directly to the president. I will not be a mayor like Mayor Adams who will call you to stay out of jail. I won't be a disgraced governor like Andrew Cuomo who will call you to ask how to win this election. I can do those things on my own."
craigmranapia.bsky.social
And when rigging the map and hyper-aggressive disenfranchisement, voter suppression and straight up intimidation don't work... you just refuse to seat Democratic women of colour like Adelita Grijalva who are impertinent enough to win regardless.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
Call me an old-fashioned kinda boy, but I'm the kind of crank who thinks that if you can't run an office without your staff decorating their cubicle walls with fascist fan art, you're not competent to be a legislator.
politico.com
EXCLUSIVE: Capitol Police are investigating a swastika found in GOP Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.

“The content of that image does not reflect the values or standards of this office, my staff, or myself, and I condemn it in the strongest terms," Taylor said in a statement.
Capitol Police called to investigate swastika in GOP congressional office
An American flag altered to include an image of a swastika was found in Rep. Dave Taylor’s office.
www.politico.com
craigmranapia.bsky.social
If there's a 'masculinity crisis' in the world, I'd lay it at the feet of right-wingers whose gender ideology indoctrination is constantly telling grown-ass men that they're masters of the universe... who aren't really responsible for a damn thing they do or say.

www.politico.com/news/2025/10...
Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’
The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."
www.politico.com
Reposted by Craig M. Ranapia
lewsos.bsky.social
Reup from 2020 (recorded in 2010). This is worth your time if you are interested in the real history of the Taranaki, how Jim Bolger got to be PM, why land, the ultimate means of production, matters materially as well as spiritually
lewsos.bsky.social
"There is nowhere in this entire area that the land is not confiscated."

Here's 2.5 hours of Te Miringa Hohaia in great detail on the confiscation of Taranaki, how it was done, why, and its deep consequences.

Video by Canadian artist Jayce Salloum player.vimeo.com/video/291006...
untitled part 6: upon the resonance/weight of histories on Vimeo
player.vimeo.com
Reposted by Craig M. Ranapia
donmoyn.bsky.social
Old enough to remember when kids being anti-semitic was the basis for a federal government assault on higher education
craigmranapia.bsky.social
If only there was a Pulitzer Prize for covering war crimes in the passive-aggressive voice....
nytimes.com
Many Palestinians have returned to Gaza City after the Oct. 10 ceasefire with Israel. But they will face an immense challenge to rebuild their lives in the city that’s been left in ruins after two years of war. nyti.ms/4h95Z1C
craigmranapia.bsky.social
What is more perfectly beta cuck than constantly infantalizing grown-ass men rather than insisting they take adult responsibility for a damn thing they do or say?
craigmranapia.bsky.social
I want a return to classic Doctor Who where nobody had time to fall in love with The Doctor because they're busy being pissed off about being kidnapped and having to run away from EVERYONE and EVERYTHING because they're all trying to murder them in a multitude of inventively ghastly ways.
fubsyshabaroon.bsky.social
Tell me your most unhinged Doctor Who opinion. I mean, if you’re a fan, they’re likely all unhinged anyway.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
"Political questions are far too serious to be left to the politicians."

Belated happy birthday to political philosopher HANNAH ARENDT, born on this yesterday (October 14) in 1906
Photograph of Hannah Arendt, a middle aged white woman in glasses, sitting at a dining room table reading a large hardback book while smoking a cigarette. Date, place taken and photographer unknown.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
“Telling dreams, like blaming one’s parents, or falling in love and making a fool of oneself, comes into my category of forbidden things.”

Anita Brookner, 'A Friend from England'
craigmranapia.bsky.social
Yeah, I'd be inclined to just bark "Not my circus, not my clown show" but that's just one more reason no sane person would ever elect me to political office. :)
craigmranapia.bsky.social
Thoughts and prayers with all of Taylor Swift's exes who got a diss track as a break-up gift instead of a soaring hymn to their magnificent sex logs.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
TBH, I agree with Russell on this. If Labour wanted to shit-stir they've been atypically disciplined about it.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
Sure, but I didn't notice TPM or the Greens being quiet as a nun when Labour was busy forming circular firing squads. Yes, I'm big on learning to play nice with the other children in the MMP sandbox but I'm also a big fan of owning your own bullshit and keeping your own house in order.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
As far as TPM is concerned, I'm happy to be in "not my circus, not my derranged monkey compulsively tossing off while waving around a straight razor in its other paw" mode, but it isn't Labour's job to be running cover for their internal drama.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
I'm inclined to agree, and as you're perfectly aware I've had lots to say for a very long time on elements within Labour who've sucked arse at playing well with the other children in the political sandbox that is MMP.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
Is it wrong that the seven utterly bug-fuck crazy seasons of SCANDAL now read as political competence porn for people who find The West Wing insufferably pompous.

Yes. It is, but this is the comfort binge-watching we deserve, not the one we want.
a man is saying it 's gonna be a long day
Alt: a man is saying it 's gonna be a long day
media.tenor.com
craigmranapia.bsky.social
SCANDAL - the show that's just like The West Wing, but with 10,000% more murder-y horniness.
Reposted by Craig M. Ranapia
modernletters.bsky.social
Thrilled to hear that PhD grad Lynn Jenner has won the 2025 Kathleen Grattan Poetry Award for her manuscript ‘The Gum Trees of Kerikeri’, described as 'a collection set in Te Tai Tokerau Northland that reflects on place, history and belonging through finely observed details.' Congratulations, Lynn!
craigmranapia.bsky.social
I'll need a fact check on this primo shade, STAT! I've seen no evidence that Simeon Brown has anything keeping his ears apart, but stranger things have happened...
owairakaaroha.bsky.social
Simeon Brown is like a lightly lobotomised Jacob Rees-Mogg. His continued presence in NZ politics is an absolute mystery.
craigmranapia.bsky.social
I get more neutered Norman Tebbit energy myself, but you'd have to be really old to notice. :)