MBR
@flame89.bsky.social
Can’t say too much about my job these days but international affairs (especially Asia) is my specialty. I love films, novels, and history. Degrees from Oxford, Virginia Tech, and the London School of Economics. Opinions are entirely my own. He/him
Pinned
MBR
@flame89.bsky.social
· Oct 20
Every Republican President of my lifetime has ended their term with a higher unemployment rate than when they began while every Democrat has finished with a lower unemployment rate than they received - and yet the public almost always rates Republicans higher on the economy.
Reposted by MBR
Reposted by MBR
Incredible story, exposing how far the CCP will go to hunt down its perceived enemies and how willingly American tech companies enable that abuse. Here, the pursuit of power, control and profit brought diverging interests together to silence dissent.
apnews.com/article/whis...
apnews.com/article/whis...
A Chinese whistleblower now living in the US is being hunted by Beijing with help from US tech
Retired Chinese official Li Chuanliang fled to the U.S. seeking asylum, fearing persecution from the Chinese government.
apnews.com
December 12, 2025 at 4:40 PM
Incredible story, exposing how far the CCP will go to hunt down its perceived enemies and how willingly American tech companies enable that abuse. Here, the pursuit of power, control and profit brought diverging interests together to silence dissent.
apnews.com/article/whis...
apnews.com/article/whis...
They’re plotting some serious shit for Venezuela.
USAF HH-60Ws from Kadena Air Base in Japan were off loaded in Puerto Rico today.
USAF HH-60W helicopters are used to rescue pilots in hostile places.-Reuters
No need for these in counter drug ops….
USAF HH-60W helicopters are used to rescue pilots in hostile places.-Reuters
No need for these in counter drug ops….
December 12, 2025 at 7:20 AM
They’re plotting some serious shit for Venezuela.
Reposted by MBR
It's not like INDOPACOM might need electronic warfare or combat search-and-rescue assets anyway
December 12, 2025 at 6:47 AM
It's not like INDOPACOM might need electronic warfare or combat search-and-rescue assets anyway
Reposted by MBR
Rutte: Allied defense spending and production must rise rapidly. Our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe. And Ukraine must have what it needs to defend itself.
We must all accept that we must act to defend our way of life now, because this year Russia has become even more brazen
We must all accept that we must act to defend our way of life now, because this year Russia has become even more brazen
December 12, 2025 at 6:49 AM
Rutte: Allied defense spending and production must rise rapidly. Our armed forces must have what they need to keep us safe. And Ukraine must have what it needs to defend itself.
We must all accept that we must act to defend our way of life now, because this year Russia has become even more brazen
We must all accept that we must act to defend our way of life now, because this year Russia has become even more brazen
Reposted by MBR
mainstream MAGA media is just unvarnished white nationalism now
December 12, 2025 at 2:02 AM
mainstream MAGA media is just unvarnished white nationalism now
Sometimes life is like being a jackass in a Texas hailstorm. You can’t go anywhere. You just have to stand there and take it.
December 12, 2025 at 1:28 AM
Sometimes life is like being a jackass in a Texas hailstorm. You can’t go anywhere. You just have to stand there and take it.
Reposted by MBR
I realize tons of orgs are asking for contributions — but please consider donating to @globalreportingcentre.org. The world is in crisis and yet at this important time, newsrooms are cutting international reporting budgets:
Things have never felt so dangerous - Global Reporting Centre
The Centre's focus on international reporting when media organizations are cutting back on world coverage is crucial.
globalreportingcentre.org
December 11, 2025 at 10:07 PM
I realize tons of orgs are asking for contributions — but please consider donating to @globalreportingcentre.org. The world is in crisis and yet at this important time, newsrooms are cutting international reporting budgets:
Reposted by MBR
Join us at Independence Ave and New Jersey across from Longworth House office building until 6 pm today Thursday.
Call your members of Congress and tell them to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
#CrimeaIsUkraine 🇺🇸🇺🇦
Call your members of Congress and tell them to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
#CrimeaIsUkraine 🇺🇸🇺🇦
December 11, 2025 at 10:03 PM
Join us at Independence Ave and New Jersey across from Longworth House office building until 6 pm today Thursday.
Call your members of Congress and tell them to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
#CrimeaIsUkraine 🇺🇸🇺🇦
Call your members of Congress and tell them to support a just and lasting peace for Ukraine.
#CrimeaIsUkraine 🇺🇸🇺🇦
Reposted by MBR
The entire White House press corps is built around the premise that what the President and his spokespeople say is real-world news, not complete fantasy.
The premise has become fatally flawed.
The premise has become fatally flawed.
December 11, 2025 at 9:37 PM
The entire White House press corps is built around the premise that what the President and his spokespeople say is real-world news, not complete fantasy.
The premise has become fatally flawed.
The premise has become fatally flawed.
Reposted by MBR
I just read that trump claimed
82% of Ukrainians demand a peace settlement.
No.
That’s a lie.
A Ukrainian is speaking.
82% of Ukrainians demand a peace settlement.
No.
That’s a lie.
A Ukrainian is speaking.
December 11, 2025 at 6:01 PM
I just read that trump claimed
82% of Ukrainians demand a peace settlement.
No.
That’s a lie.
A Ukrainian is speaking.
82% of Ukrainians demand a peace settlement.
No.
That’s a lie.
A Ukrainian is speaking.
Reposted by MBR
Watch this. Then remember that the president doesn’t care. He cares that his old ass gets richer in the hand full of years he may have left.
And his sick rich friends. The most corrupt evil man to ever serve as president is ignoring real evil
And his sick rich friends. The most corrupt evil man to ever serve as president is ignoring real evil
💔 A European Parliament interpreter could not hold back tears during the speech of 11-year-old Roman Oleksiv from Lviv.
The boy survived a missile strike on Vinnytsia on July 14, 2022, which killed his mother - it was the last time he saw her alive.
The boy survived a missile strike on Vinnytsia on July 14, 2022, which killed his mother - it was the last time he saw her alive.
December 11, 2025 at 2:24 PM
Watch this. Then remember that the president doesn’t care. He cares that his old ass gets richer in the hand full of years he may have left.
And his sick rich friends. The most corrupt evil man to ever serve as president is ignoring real evil
And his sick rich friends. The most corrupt evil man to ever serve as president is ignoring real evil
Reposted by MBR
Holy shit, thank you FIFA for naming me Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. I am honored, and I can't wait to KICK it with y'all at the after party and whatnot.
December 10, 2025 at 5:32 PM
Holy shit, thank you FIFA for naming me Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. I am honored, and I can't wait to KICK it with y'all at the after party and whatnot.
How could anyone have seen this coming except everyone with the most rudimentary understanding of economics and everyone who simply read basic economic news articles?
Powell: "Inflation for goods has picked up, reflecting the effects of tariffs."
December 10, 2025 at 8:38 PM
How could anyone have seen this coming except everyone with the most rudimentary understanding of economics and everyone who simply read basic economic news articles?
Reposted by MBR
Today is Human Rights Day. Human rights are eroding across the globe, yet governments, businesses, and the media are talking about them less. History has made one thing clear: sidelining people's desire for freedom, dignity and equality is always a mistake.
December 10, 2025 at 2:57 PM
Today is Human Rights Day. Human rights are eroding across the globe, yet governments, businesses, and the media are talking about them less. History has made one thing clear: sidelining people's desire for freedom, dignity and equality is always a mistake.
Reposted by MBR
“.. Once upon a time, a chief executive openly signaling that he’d reorient a newsroom to appease a sitting president would be a five-alarm corporate scandal ..”
@status.news
@oliverdarcy.bsky.social $PSKY
www.status.news/p/cnn-paramo...
@status.news
@oliverdarcy.bsky.social $PSKY
www.status.news/p/cnn-paramo...
December 10, 2025 at 11:27 AM
“.. Once upon a time, a chief executive openly signaling that he’d reorient a newsroom to appease a sitting president would be a five-alarm corporate scandal ..”
@status.news
@oliverdarcy.bsky.social $PSKY
www.status.news/p/cnn-paramo...
@status.news
@oliverdarcy.bsky.social $PSKY
www.status.news/p/cnn-paramo...
Reposted by MBR
Ensuring our troops have access to IVF is not a poison pill.
Shame on Trump for standing by as Speaker Johnson stole IVF coverage away from our servicemembers for the second year in a row.
He's no "father of IVF." He's a deadbeat dad who never keeps his promises.
Shame on Trump for standing by as Speaker Johnson stole IVF coverage away from our servicemembers for the second year in a row.
He's no "father of IVF." He's a deadbeat dad who never keeps his promises.
December 9, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Ensuring our troops have access to IVF is not a poison pill.
Shame on Trump for standing by as Speaker Johnson stole IVF coverage away from our servicemembers for the second year in a row.
He's no "father of IVF." He's a deadbeat dad who never keeps his promises.
Shame on Trump for standing by as Speaker Johnson stole IVF coverage away from our servicemembers for the second year in a row.
He's no "father of IVF." He's a deadbeat dad who never keeps his promises.
Reposted by MBR
I'll add that as someone who not that long ago spent many frantic nights looking for information on sleep training, feeding, etc etc--by far the most valuable internet resource was reddit, the only place with human advice. Everything else is basically useless at this point.
This entire grift relies on convincing people that they don't know how to do the things they have always known how to do, and ironically, if it works, we will, in a very short amount of time, forget how to do all the things we have always known how to do.
Jimmy Fallon: "And do you use ChatGPT when raising your baby?"
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
December 9, 2025 at 3:47 PM
I'll add that as someone who not that long ago spent many frantic nights looking for information on sleep training, feeding, etc etc--by far the most valuable internet resource was reddit, the only place with human advice. Everything else is basically useless at this point.
Reposted by MBR
This entire grift relies on convincing people that they don't know how to do the things they have always known how to do, and ironically, if it works, we will, in a very short amount of time, forget how to do all the things we have always known how to do.
Jimmy Fallon: "And do you use ChatGPT when raising your baby?"
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
Sam Altman: "I cannot imagine figuring out how to raise a newborn without ChatGPT."
December 9, 2025 at 3:40 PM
This entire grift relies on convincing people that they don't know how to do the things they have always known how to do, and ironically, if it works, we will, in a very short amount of time, forget how to do all the things we have always known how to do.
Reposted by MBR
The Ellison family’s desire to take over Warner Bros should alarm anyone concerned with U.S. propaganda & media consolidation—
They would own Paramount, Warner Bros, CNN, CBS, HBO, TikTok & a host of major cable channels
They would own Paramount, Warner Bros, CNN, CBS, HBO, TikTok & a host of major cable channels
December 9, 2025 at 3:40 PM
The Ellison family’s desire to take over Warner Bros should alarm anyone concerned with U.S. propaganda & media consolidation—
They would own Paramount, Warner Bros, CNN, CBS, HBO, TikTok & a host of major cable channels
They would own Paramount, Warner Bros, CNN, CBS, HBO, TikTok & a host of major cable channels
Reposted by MBR
Those critics of the CCP who put “tough on China” above laws and norms are finding out how hollow that “toughness” really is. Believe in people grounded in values — not in people who merely share a common enemy with you.
December 9, 2025 at 3:33 PM
Those critics of the CCP who put “tough on China” above laws and norms are finding out how hollow that “toughness” really is. Believe in people grounded in values — not in people who merely share a common enemy with you.
One of my favorite films ever. I even prefer it over In the Mood for Love.
Now playing (12:05 AM PST):
"Days of Being Wild" (1990)
By Wong Kar-Wai
Runtime: 94 min.
"Days of Being Wild" (1990)
By Wong Kar-Wai
Runtime: 94 min.
December 9, 2025 at 2:05 PM
One of my favorite films ever. I even prefer it over In the Mood for Love.
So many. One of the first that came to mind is Ikiru.
Movie you’ve watched more than six times, hard mode (no Star Wars or Trek, no Pixar, no LOTR, no Disney, no Marvel)
December 9, 2025 at 5:55 AM
So many. One of the first that came to mind is Ikiru.
Reposted by MBR
Torture is being used as a punishment in detention centers. The techniques the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation" are now being used in a brazenly punitive way. We're rounding people up innocent people, putting them in camps, and torturing them.
www.amnesty.org/en/documents...
www.amnesty.org/en/documents...
USA: Torture and enforced disappearances in the Sunshine State: Human Rights Violations at "Alligator Alcatraz" and Krome in Florida - Amnesty International
This report presents Amnesty International’s findings from a research trip to southern Florida in September 2025, to document the human rights impacts of federal and state migration and asylum policie...
www.amnesty.org
December 8, 2025 at 11:49 PM
Torture is being used as a punishment in detention centers. The techniques the Bush administration called "enhanced interrogation" are now being used in a brazenly punitive way. We're rounding people up innocent people, putting them in camps, and torturing them.
www.amnesty.org/en/documents...
www.amnesty.org/en/documents...
Reposted by MBR
A Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would be a five-alarm antitrust fire.
Not to mention it's backed by a who's who of Trump buddies and foreign money.
The government's review of any deal needs to be based on the law and facts — not who sucked up the most to Donald Trump.
Not to mention it's backed by a who's who of Trump buddies and foreign money.
The government's review of any deal needs to be based on the law and facts — not who sucked up the most to Donald Trump.
December 8, 2025 at 9:21 PM
A Paramount-Warner Bros. merger would be a five-alarm antitrust fire.
Not to mention it's backed by a who's who of Trump buddies and foreign money.
The government's review of any deal needs to be based on the law and facts — not who sucked up the most to Donald Trump.
Not to mention it's backed by a who's who of Trump buddies and foreign money.
The government's review of any deal needs to be based on the law and facts — not who sucked up the most to Donald Trump.