Alfe
@altfalt.bsky.social
95 followers 20 following 130 posts
I live in replies and eat the leaves of the forest
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Reposted by Alfe
Earlier today I was listening to one of the hosts from Here and Now repeatedly ask a resident from Southeast Chicago whether throwing rocks at ICE was justified. And finally she just said, "They invaded our community. They have machine guns."
Wow. New Economist poll finds only 34% of Americans say ICE's use of force has been justified, vs 51% who say it's been excessive. And they oppose agents wearing masks by 52-35.

Yep, ICE is becoming a pariah agency, and that's gaining deep penetration in the culture:
ICE's military raids and masked kidnappings are resonating deeply/negatively in the cultural spaces we keep hearing Dems need to reach: Manosphere, Joe Rogan, country music, disengaged voters. That's rare and it gives Dems a big opening to engage.

Thoughts on this:

newrepublic.com/article/2018...
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By rebranding genocidal rhetoric and violent misogyny as “edgy jokes,” JD Vance provides a permission structure for extremism. And he’s signaling to the next generation of Republican leaders that this language is not a career-ender but an acceptable way to signal loyalty to the MAGA base.
Vance on public outrage over the "I love Hitler" group chat: "Grow up! Focus on the real issues. Don't focus on what kids say in group chats... The reality is that kids do stupid things, especially young boys — they tell edgy, offensive jokes. That's what kids do."
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Whether intentional or ignorant, seems ominous: CDC cuts the unit that assessed whether its proposed research studies are ethical.
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It seems entirely reasonable to me that John Bolton is both a complete fucking idiot who should be in prison and the only reason he’ll be in prison is because he’s an enemy of Trump.
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the bet they're making is "the president gets things done" is a more compelling message than "the way the president is getting things done is flatly illegal"
Leavitt: "The president tapped into tariff revenue to keep WIC money going out the door. He found a creative solution to keep the troops paid. And rather than congratulate him for doing that, this unprecedented action to get our troops paid, Dems want to sue him for it. They're saying it's illegal."
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Between it being a Fox poll and coming just after Mamdani maximized the value of his Fox appearance, this might result in ketchup thrown.
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it was always stupid but conservative guys still pretending they're all John Wayne characters now that they can't walk down a city block without having a panic attack is really just something
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I would like a recording of andrew cuomo's consultants explaining to him who the fuck logan paul is and why he should go on his podcast, preferably in animated form
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even if this were somehow true — which it *emphatically* is not — you’re telling me this aide has not been on a single teams call, where it would have been noticed, all year?
lol, now they're saying the Nazi flag is an "optical illusion"
Swastika” Flag In Office of Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) May Be An “optical illusion” and “easy to miss”

The weird story about an aide to Rep. Dave Taylor (R-OH) having a flag in his Capitol Hill office with a swastika on it, has just gotten weirder.

Multiple sources tell Fox – including those investigating the issue –  the flag in question is an American flag – but with a swastika embedded into the ink or weaving. And here’s the strange part: the swastika is not obvious to the naked eye. But is more visible when captured on video or by a still photo.

One source described this as an “optical illusion.” Another said the swastika was “easy to miss.”

Fox has learned that dozens of Congressional offices received these American flags from an undetermined group who brought them around Capitol Hill early in the year. One office tells Fox that the swastika on their flag was clear, so they tossed it out. But the flag in the office of Taylor was not visible until captured on camera.

It is not known what group brought the flags around. That is under investigation. The US Capitol Police are also conducting an inquiry. Fox is told that that the group brought the flags to multiple offices. At issues is if the group knew the swastika was embedded into the flag. It is also unclear if this was an effort to covertly deliver American flags to lawmakers with swastikas on them. Or, if this was an effort to deliberately embarrass offices by bringing them an American flag – which featured a swastika which wasn’t obvious to the naked eye.
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“This president acts as though one election makes 236 years of constitutional order irrelevant. Instead of trying to work within the Constitution, or to amend it, President Trump is testing how far he can ignore it.”
Opinion | I resigned from the military because of Trump
I could not swear to follow a commander in chief who seems so willing to disregard the Constitution.
www.washingtonpost.com
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I mean, you don’t have to squint.
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“We gotta fill our teens with sperm” say two old men who look like handbags made from walrus scrotum.
RFK Jr: "Today the average teenager in this country has 50% of the sperm count, 50% of the testosterone of a 65 year old man. Our girls are hitting puberty 6 years early ... our parents aren't having children."
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Any election pitch against these guys should be "Hey do you hear what they're saying they're insane"
Leavitt: "The Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals."
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the reframing of ICE and CBP from "dipshit agencies for losers and washouts" to Very Special Boys who get paid when nobody else in the government does must be creating an enormous seething vortex of resentment
Internal DHS memo shows Trump plans to keep paying ICE agents and Border Patrol officers throughout the shutdown, while other feds go without pay.

Even the DHS administrative staff processing the paychecks won't get theirs, employee tells me.
www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-...
Trump Plans To Keep Paying Immigration Agents While Other Federal Workers Go Without Paychecks
The move amounts to special treatment for Trump’s favorite constituency within the federal bureaucracy.
www.huffpost.com
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“Deplorables” was a scandal for years and she wasn’t even in the government yet. This is the White House Press Secretary, whose salary is paid by the American public.
Leavitt: "The Democrat Party's main constituency is made up of Hamas terrorists, illegal aliens, and violent criminals."
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"We're going to help our farmers!"

"Also we have no idea how much money, how they're going to get it, and how we're going to pay for it."
I mean, yikes. If even the administration is admitting that they're stuck on minor detail such as "how much, from where, and how to get it to people", folks are in trouble.
Part of the article linked above (https://www.politico.com/news/2025/10/16/trump-promised-farmers-help-its-complicated-00610757) that states:

Administration officials have not finalized how much money to include in the first tranche of aid, how to pay for it and how to deploy it.
Reposted by Alfe
This is not just hypocrisy or refusal to call out issues on his own side.

It's that he agrees, he's explicitly and happily on their side, and they are part of the movement he and Trump have been bringing into the mainstream for a decade.
JD Vance when students write public op-eds criticizing Israel: "Deport them! They don't deserve to be in the US! They're adults and they need to be held responsible!"

JD Vance with thirty-somethings praise Hitler in group chats: "Kids will be kids!"
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I think the one quote that defines him is from the VP debate: “The rules were that you guys weren’t going to fact-check.”
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Man one thing that’s stunningly clear is JD Vance is extremely bad at spin and damage control
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"we're going to turn your prestigious university into a facsimile of Rufo's disastrous New College and our demands will never, ever stop" somehow not the most compelling sales pitch in the world

more of this, please
Just received from a colleague: looks like Penn is going to join the universities refusing the extortionary Trump "compact". I do not regret to inform you that we are going to win
screenshot of an email saying:

"To the Penn Community:

 

For 285 years, Penn has been anchored and guided by continuous self-improvement, using education as a ladder for opportunity, and advancing discoveries that serve our community, our nation, and the world.

 

Since receiving the Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education on October 1, I have sought input from faculty, alumni, trustees, students, staff and others who care deeply about Penn. The goal was to ensure that our response reflected our values and the perspectives of our broad community.

 

Earlier today, I informed the U.S. Department of Education that Penn respectfully declines to sign the proposed Compact. As requested, we also provided focused feedback highlighting areas of existing alignment as well as substantive concerns.

 

At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability. The long-standing partnership between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress.

 

I am grateful to the Penn community for your thoughtful input and for what you bring to our University and our missions every day.

 

Sincerely,

 

J. Larry Jameson, MD, PhD
President
University of Pennsylvania"