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Reposted by Jon Ficke

Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 15h

Pope Leo quotes Hannah Arendt:

“The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the convinced Communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction and the distinction between true and false no longer exist."

www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news...

Pope Leo calls for news agencies to stand as bulwark against "post-truths," lies and manipulation

Pope Leo XIV has encouraged international news agencies to stand firm as a bulwark against the "ancient art of lying" and manipulation.

www.cbsnews.com

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Rich Raho @richraho.bsky.social · 1d

Chicago priest Fr. Larry Dowling describes procession to ICE facility: “No one had the courage to speak directly to us. No one from Homeland Security could stand in the presence of the Monstrance holding the Blessed Sacrament. No wonder. Evil is repelled, recoils in the presence of Christ.”

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 1d

Look I’m not saying he was *right* but I can’t say he was *wrong*

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Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 1d

Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.

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Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 1d

Also: if you work for ICE, even if you’re not one of the ones arresting citizens or tackling 15-year-olds or zip-tying kids together and segregating them by race, you’re part of the mechanism making it happen, and you should suffer long-term social and post-regime-change consequences.

Ari Cohn @aricohn.com · 1d

Some weirdo on Twitter has been absolutely melting down for like 36 straight hours because I posted:

When this is over, do not forget what ICE did, and what ICE is. And do not make room for them in society. Make sure they know that they are, and will continue to be, reviled and beneath contempt.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 1d

Authors leaving is one piece of the puzzle, even less visible are the people who drop out before breaking in in the first instance because we can see the hellscape the industry is becoming and attrition takes us out before we find rep/debut deal.

J.T. Greathouse @jeremyteg.bsky.social · 1d

The absolutely nightmarish situation for authors right now is a big part of why I'm probably never going to stop teaching.

I like teaching, but it's frustrating that full-time authoring feels like it will never, ever be an option. At least until I hit retirement age.

Georgina Kiersten @ingloriousgigi.bsky.social · 1d

You should be concerned about the rate of authors leaving publishing. Especially from marginalized communities. This year I have seen so many authors just pack it up and go. And it's only getting worse.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 1d

I’ve wondered whether the is an analogous class of feckless cowards in the Roman senate during the death of the republic that history has generally forgotten the names of.

Maybe a question for @mikeduncan.bsky.social or @patrickwyman.bsky.social

James @gravitysra1nbow.bsky.social · 1d

It's incredible the extent to which Congress just utterly refuses to defend itself. You'd think for entirely self-interested reasons you would stridently oppose having the power of the purse arbitrarily ripped from you, ya know?

Why would you allow yourself to become the Roman Senate circa 27 BC.

Kevin Elliott @kjephd.bsky.social · 1d

Unconstitutionally taking money that the law says must be spent on one purpose & using it for something else—when it's to establish personalist control over the FUCKING MILITARY—is about as dangerous a constitutional crisis/failure as you can imagine

Via: www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 1d

I think it’s probably this

Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 1d

/3 It‘s entirely possible it’s a mix of (1) everything being a constant fire drill because there is so much litigation because they are so lawless and (2) they likely don’t like or trust the long-term civil service staff like legal secretaries and paralegals.

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 1d

As someone with memory of counting spaces and zooming in to confirm punctuation compliance with bluebook style in law school this kind of thing is a real witches brew of horror, shock, and schadenfreuede because these people are monsters who deserve misery in every facet of their lives.

Bradley P. Moss @bradmossesq.bsky.social · 2d

Someone gonna get fired …. @kenwhite.bsky.social @annabower.bsky.social

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Tim Onion @bencollins.bsky.social · 2d

This man is being Gorilla Channel'd with a rotating selection of AI slop riot porn by several known white supremacists who are secretly running the government.

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

Trump: "Portland, I mean -- every time I look at that place it's burning down. There are fires all over the place. When a store -- there are very few of them left -- but when a store owner rebuilds a store they build it out of plywood. They don't put up storefronts anymore. They just put wood up."

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 2d

I'm sure they'll just mute their video and overlay a track of some bizarre synthwave terrorgram audio, but the juxtaposition of hymns with their claims of violent anarchy is striking and not favorable to their propoganda.

Monica Carmean @monicacarmean.com · 2d

I hope the cops they had embedded filming our prayer vigil set their next homeland security video to us singing this little light of mine.

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 2d

candidly, outside of very rare people he views as Great Men (eg maybe just Kim Jong Un), I'm not convinced he can tell Asian people apart, and we could totally run a human three card monty on him using actors pretending to be the Japanese PM in an afternoon, swapping people, and he wouldn't notice.

Tobias Harris @tobiasharris.bsky.social · 2d

How confused is Trump going to be if Ishiba is still PM when he comes to Japan?

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 2d

what do we think he's going to claim to have "triumphed" over...

perhaps...

the will?

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 2d

it's giving Germania

"On Trump’s desk in the Oval Office today was a plan for a triumphal arch on the other side of the river from the Lincoln Memorial"

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

Hyperbole or not, it cuts to the heart of it:

If an LLM can do it for me, then frankly I don’t want to anymore.

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

Look, anything that references “Behold a man!” Objectively the greatest troll in human history is good by me.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

Paging @jeremyteg.bsky.social for the intersection of philosophy nerdery with linguistic pedantry and misc nonsense.

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

I try very hard to empathize with people I disagree with, that is to try to understand their perspectives even if those perspectives are awful, but I simply cannot put my self in the mind of a man with a fundamental disdain for the mother of his children.

Matt Ford @mford.bsky.social · 3d

“Baby in her placenta” is pretty bad for a HHS secretary but it’s arguably worse for a guy with six kids. It’s impossible to not learn this stuff as a dad if you’re even remotely paying attention just once.

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

I mean on one hand, bad obviously.

But on the other just like thin blue line stickers being a convienient way of notifying people you’re at best a stasi informant, anyone who wears a Trump watch yells loudly “I’m a sucker and a piece of shit worthy only of social scorn and being ostracized”

Andrew Lawrence @ndrew.bsky.social · 3d

lol this is crazy i mean this guys the president

Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 3d

Trump Watches commercials are now running regularly on Newsmax

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

Kristi Noem “dog killer” classic statement against interest.

🎃scarecrowcialism👻 @swolecialism.bsky.social · 3d

you can call her a dogkiller on tv, it's legal and true

pumpkin spice amb 🎃 @amb.fyi · 3d

in the second cnn portland city councilor hit of the day, the anchor couldn’t keep a straight face

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 3d

I think people are sleeping on exactly *how* obvious this dynamic is to normies. It’s an extension of “obviously the law doesn’t apply to rich friends of Epstein” attitudes. People fundamentally understand they live in a country without equality before the law.

Mark Joseph Stern @mjsdc.bsky.social · 3d

When the Supreme Court struck down Biden's policies, it was tempting to think: "At least these limits on executive authority will bind Trump if he comes back into office." But no—the court's skepticism of executive power vanished on Jan. 20, 2025. This dynamic is obvious to anyone paying attention!

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James Martin, SJ @jamesmartinsj.bsky.social · 3d

Pope Leo XIV: "I often wonder, even though the teaching of Sacred Scripture is so clear about the poor, why many people continue to think that they can safely disregard the poor."

"Dilexi te"

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Old White Nepo Hat @kenwhite.bsky.social · 4d

The White House Antifa Roundtable is one of the best displays I’ve seen of this-is-how-bad-it’s-gotten — just a sewer of open fascism, dementia, morons and freaks, and incoherent rage.

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Cadence ”Sewer Game Use Badwater” Andrysiak @supportourpoops.bsky.social · 4d

BOOOOO

ABSOLUTE BOOOOOOO

Stephen Totilo @stephentotilo.bsky.social · 4d

SCOOP: Last year, Ubisoft cancelled an Assassin's Creed game set during Reconstruction. Was to feature a Black Assassin who, among other things, fought the rise of the Klan

Sources: Leadership nixed it over concerns re: U.S. political climate, backlash to Yasuke

www.gamefile.news/p/scoop-ubis...

Scoop: Ubisoft cancelled a post-Civil War Assassin’s Creed last year

Company leadership deemed the project too controversial for the moment, sources tell Game File

www.gamefile.news

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Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 4d

At this point, I'd almost be surprised if it didnt.

Jon Ficke @jonficke.bsky.social · 4d

Also, given how people like Vance just cannot avoid taking bait, there's a very real chance he tries to post through a theological schism with Rome in a way that is almost guaranteed to provoke a confrontation.

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