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John Pettus

@johngpettus.bsky.social

2.2K followers 1.7K following 9.4K posts

Social venture entrepreneur. San Francisco native. Iraq veteran. Economics-trained, MBA liberal. Both more liberal and more conservative than you, in some ways. Working on improving public discourse and teaching & measuring critical thinking at scale.

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · Jun 10

Mon Mothma: "The Death of Truth is the Ultimate Victory of Evil."

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jkavanagh.bsky.social @jkavanagh.bsky.social · 14h

A press corps of stenographers and sideline “reporters” is not competent enough to cover today’s MAGA politics.

Greg Sargent @gregsargent.bsky.social · 2d

The conventions of political reporting today are not well equipped to handle this concerted use of pretexts for instrumental purposes and the bottomless bad faith they employ. Grasping the industrial-scale deception at the core of MAGA politics is essential. 6/

newrepublic.com/article/2016...

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Kodiak149 @kodiak149.bsky.social · 17h

They aren’t arresting criminals
They aren’t arresting gang members

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 7m

It would help accurately inform the American people if our mainstream media called these things “lies”, which is how normal people understand this behavior.

Carl Quintanilla @carlquintanilla.bsky.social · 8m

“Fiction.”

@cnn.com
www.cnn.com/2025/10/11/p...

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 12m

That regularly happens to me here with as few as 50-100 re-skeets, I think. Only lasts 24-48 hours, plus re-flare ups.

You mean post that fills your replies with trolls indefinitely?

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 16m

I assure you it’s not.

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Democratic Activists @democratswin.bsky.social · 23m

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 31m

obviously john roberts and the trump majority aren't going a little thing like "history" or "the written text of the constitution" get in the way of their ideological drive to remake the (republican) presidency as an elected dictatorship.

Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials

www.nytimes.com

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darren32359.bsky.social @darren32359.bsky.social · 41m

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 5h

I saw the most beautiful girls I've ever seen in the world in Bratislava. Just crazy.

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 5h

This is basically Republicans since 1994

Darrell Gardner @darrellgardner.bsky.social · 6h

This, in endless cycles

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 5h

Finally starting to see American anti-fascist protest art.

We need more of this. It can shape a generation.

Nikkolas Smith @4nikkolas.bsky.social · 2d

after millions of views and shares of my Portland Frog art. (thank you all🙏🏾) I got requests to highlight priests, and chickens, and Chicagoans, and T-Rexes, and more… all of us who refuse to bend the knee. so this is for US.
𝚂𝚝𝚊𝚗𝚍 𝚃𝚊𝚕𝚕.
𝚆𝚎 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚕 𝚆𝚒𝚗.

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 5h

Steve is right to be thinking that way. He's thinking now about preserving his guys for the playoffs.

That's smart. If we can get the young bucks to soak up as many minutes as possible, we'll have a better chance.

I wonder if he might be more aggressive at keeping the vets out in the 4th now.

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 6h

K-Pop Demon Hunters being sold by Sony is just another huge data point in my continuing observation that huge swathes of life are predicated on the idea that people can evaluate people or ideas and IT'S JUST NOT TRUE.

Why do we not talk more about so much of life being based on this false pretense?

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 8h

JK has had a couple of GREAT passes tonight, though.

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 8h

I'm just watching the #Warriors pre-season game, and OMG - what is Jonathan Kuminga's rate of turning the ball over? Is it... 30% of his utilization? 40%? It's insane.

People mindlessly hate on Steve Kerr, butt he data doesn't lie. JK can get 30 a night. But not on a team that wins more than loses.

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 8h

This is an INSANE thing for an American President to say.

He needs to check with Daddy on American arms sales?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 14h

Trump on Ukraine: "They'd like to have Tomahawks. We talked about that. We'll see. I might have to speak to Russia, to be honest with you, about Tomahawks. Do they want to have Tomahawks going in their direction? I don't think so."

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Steve Berman @basportsguy.bsky.social · 12h

Jauan Jennings said he has five broken ribs. Not one. Five. I haven't seen a team this injured since I started watching sports.

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Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 21h

Pritzker: "If the Constitution means anything -- and I guess we all are questioning that right now -- the Insurrection Act cannot be invoked ... they just want troops on the ground because they want to militarize especially blue cities in blue states."

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 8h

I don't know. He let the guy change topics and lie for 60 seconds and didn't address the lies, just clarified his own statements and called out that Vance didn't answer the question.

Vance expecting he could talk forever on TV was jut him wrongfooting the TV medium.

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Seth Cotlar @sethcotlar.bsky.social · 9h

He has…sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people…

He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.

He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.

—Declaration of Independence, 1776

David Bier @davidjbier.bsky.social · 2d

ICE agents to US citizen: Turn around or you're getting the dog.

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 9h

This can't be real

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 9h

WTF?

Nothing they said was anti-semitic. You've just shown that you are a dishonest actor, not a person seeking the truth.

Claiming to be able to read minds based on tweets is something children do, not adults who want to be taken seriously.

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George Conway 👊🇺🇸🔥 @gtconway.bsky.social · 9h

There is absolutely zero chance that a man who took $50,000 in cash in a paper bag from an FBI agent on camera would have been appointed to any position by any other president.

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John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 9h

It's SUCH a miserable feeling in football - not to lose but to have your team so wildly injured that it's not really your team out there getting a chance to play.

Kittle
Purdy
Bosa
Warner
Aiyuk
Pearsall

and those are just the stars.
Normally also Jennings, Mac Jones, etc.

Frustrating.
#Niners

John Pettus @johngpettus.bsky.social · 10h

Have they tried not being cowards?