Apparently Normal
@apparentlynormal.bsky.social
Liberal wonky technologist who likes bad dad jokes.
Favorite quote: "Beer is proof that G-d loves us and wants us to be happy"
-- Benjamin Franklin
Favorite political quote from a movie: "We're all in it together"
-- Harry Tuttle in Brazil
Favorite quote: "Beer is proof that G-d loves us and wants us to be happy"
-- Benjamin Franklin
Favorite political quote from a movie: "We're all in it together"
-- Harry Tuttle in Brazil
Pinned
Reposted by Apparently Normal
In 2017, I believed the institutions would hold on to withstand Trump’s worst impulses. They hung on by a thread. Then I watched Trump, Miller & Project 2025 plot for 4 years to make sure they wouldn’t hold again. Which is why I didn’t believe they would hold again. They aren’t.
December 11, 2025 at 11:56 AM
In 2017, I believed the institutions would hold on to withstand Trump’s worst impulses. They hung on by a thread. Then I watched Trump, Miller & Project 2025 plot for 4 years to make sure they wouldn’t hold again. Which is why I didn’t believe they would hold again. They aren’t.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Thinking of that time when my dad, himself a doctor, was thrown by a horse on a trail ride. Punctured his spleen, internal bleeding, got him to an ER just in time. He lived another 20 years. With two hours delay, probably wouldn't have.
We rushed to *nearest* ER. Not comparison-shop for ER prices.
We rushed to *nearest* ER. Not comparison-shop for ER prices.
Roger Marshall: "We want patients to become consumers again. We want patients to see what the actual prices are. We believe that if we would add the price tags to this bill, that it would save the country a trillion dollars a year."
December 11, 2025 at 4:34 AM
Thinking of that time when my dad, himself a doctor, was thrown by a horse on a trail ride. Punctured his spleen, internal bleeding, got him to an ER just in time. He lived another 20 years. With two hours delay, probably wouldn't have.
We rushed to *nearest* ER. Not comparison-shop for ER prices.
We rushed to *nearest* ER. Not comparison-shop for ER prices.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
If you make a billion dollars — or $500 million or even $100 million dollars — and you keep trying to make more, then there is something seriously wrong with you. It's a mental illness akin to hoarding or drug addiction.
December 11, 2025 at 4:44 AM
If you make a billion dollars — or $500 million or even $100 million dollars — and you keep trying to make more, then there is something seriously wrong with you. It's a mental illness akin to hoarding or drug addiction.
In 2026 the interest on the national debt is estimated to be $1 trillion (larger than DOD's budget). Interest on the debt is now the fastest growing part of the budget. 2021 stimulus debt is rolling over to new loans this year w/the new interest rate four times higher.
ALL ROADS LEAD TO QE AS US WILL SPEND ONE TRILLION IN 2026 FOR INTEREST ON MATURING DEBT- GAME OVER
YouTube video by Ox Talks
www.youtube.com
December 11, 2025 at 2:50 AM
In 2026 the interest on the national debt is estimated to be $1 trillion (larger than DOD's budget). Interest on the debt is now the fastest growing part of the budget. 2021 stimulus debt is rolling over to new loans this year w/the new interest rate four times higher.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
The so-called “war” with Venezuela was supposedly about stopping drugs… yet they’re out there seizing an oil tanker.
December 10, 2025 at 10:46 PM
The so-called “war” with Venezuela was supposedly about stopping drugs… yet they’re out there seizing an oil tanker.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
December 10, 2025 at 11:57 PM
Reposted by Apparently Normal
The US seizes a Venezuelan oil tanker. But doesn't seize any Russian oil tankers.
Everything you need to know.
Everything you need to know.
December 10, 2025 at 11:58 PM
The US seizes a Venezuelan oil tanker. But doesn't seize any Russian oil tankers.
Everything you need to know.
Everything you need to know.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
“Don’t say you weren’t warned: Trump’s new national security strategy seeks to destroy liberal democracy as we know it”
The US is not just Europe’s unwilling ally, but an adversary steeped in far-right ideology | Cas Mudde
Don’t say you weren’t warned: Trump’s new national security strategy seeks to destroy liberal democracy as we know it, says academic and author Cas Mudde
www.theguardian.com
December 10, 2025 at 11:55 AM
“Don’t say you weren’t warned: Trump’s new national security strategy seeks to destroy liberal democracy as we know it”
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Republicans just wrapped a meeting on healthcare and not even pretending to have a plan.
They’re blaming Dems for the shutdown, as if that stopped them from doing the job. They were still getting paid, they could have been working the entire time.
15 years of whining about Obamacare—still nothing!
They’re blaming Dems for the shutdown, as if that stopped them from doing the job. They were still getting paid, they could have been working the entire time.
15 years of whining about Obamacare—still nothing!
December 9, 2025 at 9:42 PM
Republicans just wrapped a meeting on healthcare and not even pretending to have a plan.
They’re blaming Dems for the shutdown, as if that stopped them from doing the job. They were still getting paid, they could have been working the entire time.
15 years of whining about Obamacare—still nothing!
They’re blaming Dems for the shutdown, as if that stopped them from doing the job. They were still getting paid, they could have been working the entire time.
15 years of whining about Obamacare—still nothing!
Reposted by Apparently Normal
"We can't allow fact checkers into the country" is late-stage USSR shit, real end-of-empire stuff
Holy shit.
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
Reuters reporting that new admin instructions on visas are if you worked at a platform in trust & safety or content moderation or on fact checking or online safety at an platform you *and your loved ones* are ineligible for H-1B visa.
www.reuters.com/world/us/tru...
December 8, 2025 at 9:23 PM
"We can't allow fact checkers into the country" is late-stage USSR shit, real end-of-empire stuff
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Make America Healthy Again my ass.
December 8, 2025 at 9:30 PM
Make America Healthy Again my ass.
"migrants held by ICE and transferred to Alligator Alcatraz no longer appear in ICE's databases. They are also not registered in any public database. there is no official record of their detention and no way to track where they are being detained"
They're using the confinement box, one of the most horrific methods of CIA torture in the post-9/11 black sites, against migrants now. This is the direct result of the lack of consequences for the architects of the torture program. Either there will be criminal penalties for this or it will expand.
Torture Techniques from CIA Black Sites Were Used at Alligator Alcatraz
Amnesty International, interviewing migrant detainees, identifies use of the confinement box. There can be no denying it is a torture prison
www.forever-wars.com
December 9, 2025 at 2:31 AM
"migrants held by ICE and transferred to Alligator Alcatraz no longer appear in ICE's databases. They are also not registered in any public database. there is no official record of their detention and no way to track where they are being detained"
Reposted by Apparently Normal
“I’d have no problem releasing the video”
“I didn’t say that, you said that. Fake news.”
5 days apart 😬
(From @therecount.com )
“I didn’t say that, you said that. Fake news.”
5 days apart 😬
(From @therecount.com )
December 8, 2025 at 10:16 PM
“I’d have no problem releasing the video”
“I didn’t say that, you said that. Fake news.”
5 days apart 😬
(From @therecount.com )
“I didn’t say that, you said that. Fake news.”
5 days apart 😬
(From @therecount.com )
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Good. There's no reason to hand the violent burglar your possessions and part of your house in hopes that they'll leave and not kill you. And Trump is ultimately going to screw Ukraine over anyway. Europe needs to step up until America comes back to its senses.
JUST IN: Ukraine will NOT surrender territory, President Zelensky declared Monday, rejecting a central Russian demand that Donald Trump had incorporated into his “peace plan.”
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
www.washingtonpost.com/world/2025/1...
Zelensky rules out ceding land to Russia, refusing to bow to Putin or Trump
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky said his country would not give up territory, not to hasten peace talks, not to satisfy Washington and not under pressure from Moscow.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 8, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Good. There's no reason to hand the violent burglar your possessions and part of your house in hopes that they'll leave and not kill you. And Trump is ultimately going to screw Ukraine over anyway. Europe needs to step up until America comes back to its senses.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Beautiful, mellow song, making fun of billionaires and trillionaires:
www.instagram.com/reel/DR1PbaC...
www.instagram.com/reel/DR1PbaC...
Nikodimos on Instagram: "Stumbled across this beautiful song by @jessiemazin the other day, thought i’d have a go at producing it. This to me is protest music at its finest so it was an honour to give...
In this latest post, we're giving a new life to protest music with a fresh instrumental rendition. Inspired by the powerful lyrics of @jessiemazin, this track combines music and message to spark a con...
www.instagram.com
December 9, 2025 at 12:29 AM
Beautiful, mellow song, making fun of billionaires and trillionaires:
www.instagram.com/reel/DR1PbaC...
www.instagram.com/reel/DR1PbaC...
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Health insurers are jacking up premiums while raking in billions in profits.
Expiring ACA subsidies will saddle millions of Americans with massive monthly premium increases.
Is it any wonder that 63% of Americans now support Medicare for All?
Expiring ACA subsidies will saddle millions of Americans with massive monthly premium increases.
Is it any wonder that 63% of Americans now support Medicare for All?
December 8, 2025 at 12:04 AM
Health insurers are jacking up premiums while raking in billions in profits.
Expiring ACA subsidies will saddle millions of Americans with massive monthly premium increases.
Is it any wonder that 63% of Americans now support Medicare for All?
Expiring ACA subsidies will saddle millions of Americans with massive monthly premium increases.
Is it any wonder that 63% of Americans now support Medicare for All?
"[less regulated] nonbank financial institutions now hold around half of the world’s financial assets"
"many banks now have nonbank [financial] exposures that exceed their Tier 1 type capital" (highest quality capital used to satisfy short notice withdrawal demands)
www.imf.org/en/blogs/art...
"many banks now have nonbank [financial] exposures that exceed their Tier 1 type capital" (highest quality capital used to satisfy short notice withdrawal demands)
www.imf.org/en/blogs/art...
Growth of Nonbanks is Revealing New Financial Stability Risks
Policymakers should strengthen oversight of nonbank financial intermediaries, whose increasing interconnectedness with banks could exacerbate adverse shocks
www.imf.org
December 8, 2025 at 3:01 AM
"[less regulated] nonbank financial institutions now hold around half of the world’s financial assets"
"many banks now have nonbank [financial] exposures that exceed their Tier 1 type capital" (highest quality capital used to satisfy short notice withdrawal demands)
www.imf.org/en/blogs/art...
"many banks now have nonbank [financial] exposures that exceed their Tier 1 type capital" (highest quality capital used to satisfy short notice withdrawal demands)
www.imf.org/en/blogs/art...
Reposted by Apparently Normal
Of course anyone with half a brain knew how this was going to end long ago: Walk away from Ukraine, walk away from NATO, blame Zelensky, lots of business deals between Trump, his cronies, and our new “friends” the murderous, corrupt, lying Russians.
December 8, 2025 at 12:51 AM
Of course anyone with half a brain knew how this was going to end long ago: Walk away from Ukraine, walk away from NATO, blame Zelensky, lots of business deals between Trump, his cronies, and our new “friends” the murderous, corrupt, lying Russians.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
*More than half of the GOP believe the 2020 election outcome was the result of fraud
*More than 4 out of 10 believe 9/11 was an inside job
*37% believe the Holocaust did not happen or was exaggerate
*36% believe NASA faked the moon landing
*1 in 3 believe vaccines cause autism
*More than 4 out of 10 believe 9/11 was an inside job
*37% believe the Holocaust did not happen or was exaggerate
*36% believe NASA faked the moon landing
*1 in 3 believe vaccines cause autism
December 6, 2025 at 1:21 PM
*More than half of the GOP believe the 2020 election outcome was the result of fraud
*More than 4 out of 10 believe 9/11 was an inside job
*37% believe the Holocaust did not happen or was exaggerate
*36% believe NASA faked the moon landing
*1 in 3 believe vaccines cause autism
*More than 4 out of 10 believe 9/11 was an inside job
*37% believe the Holocaust did not happen or was exaggerate
*36% believe NASA faked the moon landing
*1 in 3 believe vaccines cause autism
Reposted by Apparently Normal
So he did, in fact, say “kill them all”.
EXCLUSIVE: Pete Hegseth ordered the U.S. military on Sept. 2 to kill all 11 people on a suspected drug-smuggling boat because they were on an internal list of military targets, the commander overseeing the operation told lawmakers, according to multiple sources.
Admiral told lawmakers everyone on alleged drug boat was on a list of military targets
Adm. Frank Bradley said U.S. intelligence had identified the 11 people on the boat and determined the military was authorized to kill them as part of Trump’s campaign against alleged drug-smuggling vessels.
nbcnews.to
December 7, 2025 at 2:00 AM
So he did, in fact, say “kill them all”.
Reposted by Apparently Normal
December 7, 2025 at 4:21 AM
Reposted by Apparently Normal
This is an abomination.
U.S. Flips History by Casting Europe—Not Russia—as Villain in New Security Policy
An annual strategy document, which has described threats from China to Russia, directs some of its harshest language at NATO allies.
www.wsj.com
December 7, 2025 at 4:23 AM
This is an abomination.