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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 27m

That’s the funny part though! The /Time/ editors wake up every day worrying “how can we make our colour-photography-centric form of journalism interesting and buzzy again?” Well, now they’ve done it …

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 55m

In all seriousness, I think his chance of getting Bagram back just increased significantly.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1h

Working off a volunteer-provided list is very likely, but in this day and age they could presumably also have sent an LLM out to trawl the internet: it wouldn't necessarily have been put off by the lack of the word 'Kirk'.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1h

My impression (not an expert or any kind of local) is that the resurgence of the US Israel lobby from the late '90s was driven precisely by a determination that the US would never pressure Israel into something like Oslo again.

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1h

But didn't Bush sr. & Clinton prove able and willing to bring very significant and effective pressure on Israeli governments?

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 3h

Trump buys, consumes, plays when he should be—and is pretending to be, and apparently really believes he *is*—selling, building, working. He's doing that again now. (And being old likely isn't making him any more of a long-termist either.)

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 3h

But he's been at this all his adult life. His cherished vanity projects (not the scams & cash-grabs) notoriously tended to be fun, flattering baubles for himself that were too costly or not popular enough with actual customers to break even, like Trump Airlines with the blinged-out cabin interiors.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 3h

He's not striking the pressure points that will yield him control of the state and society: he's running down the list of people he personally has beef with. Since he doesn't *have* a consolidated autocracy (yet, at least) that's likely to work out poorly for him, yes.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 3h

Evidently Trump (Trump personally, here—eg. Miller-driven ICE stuff is a different story) isn't interested in using state coercion to consolidate an autocracy: he wants to *use* the power of an already-consolidated autocracy to get at his personal enemies.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 4h

Please don’t normalise sharing fake videos.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 8h

Is gravy a dip?

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

The Yaxley Taxi.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

Keep On Pernin’

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

Trump has also met Canada’s actual head of state just recently, too …

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

I didn’t survive WWIII, you insensitive clod.

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

Authoritarian socialism is like a box of chocolates.

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

“Principal-agent problems? In MY absolute monarchy?”

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 1d

Also remember that *collectively* they face dispersed and/or longer-term problems if they don’t tamp down the No Kings demos; but *individually* they face immediate and unpleasant problems if they aren’t seen performing maximum loyalty to the Boss on the TV. So that creates some perverse incentives.

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

Right: the catch in going after ‘the few’ is that there’s only a few of them.

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Reposted by M.B. Drapier

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

/All That Jazz/ just happens to be a film about a seamy, larger-than-life 1970s New York bigshot being confronted with his own imminent death. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_aI...

All That Jazz | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX

YouTube video by 20th Century Studios

www.youtube.com

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M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

bsky.app/profile/mbdr...

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

/All That Jazz/ just happens to be a film about a seamy, larger-than-life 1970s New York bigshot being confronted with his own imminent death. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_aI...

All That Jazz | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX

YouTube video by 20th Century Studios

www.youtube.com

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

/All That Jazz/ just happens to be a film about a seamy, larger-than-life 1970s New York bigshot being confronted with his own imminent death. www.youtube.com/watch?v=8_aI...

All That Jazz | #TBT Trailer | 20th Century FOX

YouTube video by 20th Century Studios

www.youtube.com

1

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

Allow me to explain! Trump is contemplating the works of Bob Fosse here: bsky.app/profile/mbdr...

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

bsky.app/profile/atru...

Urgh, right. As a New York-based musicals lover and high-society orgiast/sex offender of a certain age, *of course* he'd be a big fan of /All That Jazz/: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UrX...

"Up there where the clouds are pillowy,
You're as close to heaven as you'll ever be."

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Reposted by M.B. Drapier

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

bsky.app/profile/atru...

Urgh, right. As a New York-based musicals lover and high-society orgiast/sex offender of a certain age, *of course* he'd be a big fan of /All That Jazz/: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UrX...

"Up there where the clouds are pillowy,
You're as close to heaven as you'll ever be."

1 1

M.B. Drapier @mbdrapier.bsky.social · 2d

bsky.app/profile/atru...

Urgh, right. As a New York-based musicals lover and high-society orgiast/sex offender of a certain age, *of course* he'd be a big fan of /All That Jazz/: www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UrX...

"Up there where the clouds are pillowy,
You're as close to heaven as you'll ever be."

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