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Satadru Pramanik

@satmandu.bsky.social

1.6K followers 7.7K following 8.8K posts

DO, BME MEng, MPH. Smarter half: @kimbeast.bsky.social He/Him. Cinema snob, ST pessimist, LT optimist. Also at @[email protected] Open Source Dev at Chromebrew, and contributor to OpenZFS + sundry other projects. Signal: satadru.01 🌩️👀 jr-q3e79ZL9H

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · Jun 6

On this anniversary of D-Day, I'm thinking again about my visit to Normandy last year.

I believe even more firmly that every American should, if able, make at least one summer pilgrimage there.

Also, several decades into this journey, I finally understand the transformative power of pilgrimages.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · Mar 14

I finally looked up the person to whom this Tombstone belonged, the one that gave me pause when I visited the American cemetery in Normandy last summer when I saw the state I grew up in, Michigan, listed on it.

Kenneth E Bleasdell, of Ann Arbor, MI, was one of 3 brothers who died fighting in WW2.

Tombstone of Kenneth E Bleasdell, of Ann Arbor, MI, at the American Cemetery in Normandy, France, one of 3 brothers who died fighting in WW2.

https://www.honorstates.org/profiles/62470/

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1h

huh, wonder what this was about

Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 1h

Whether he jumped or was pushed, this seems like a big deal. www.nytimes.com/2025/10/16/u...

Head of the U.S. Military’s Southern Command Is Stepping Down, Officials Say

www.nytimes.com

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Jonathan Cohn @jonathancohn.bsky.social · 3h

"About two dozen Americans have said they were held for more than a day without being able to phone lawyers or loved ones." www.propublica.org/article/immi...

More Than 170 U.S. Citizens Have Been Held by Immigration Agents. They’ve Been Kicked, Dragged and Detained for Days.

The government does not track how often immigration agents grab citizens. So ProPublica did. Our tally — almost certainly incomplete — includes people who were held for days without a lawyer. And near...

www.propublica.org

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Ida Bae Wells @nhannahjones.bsky.social · 21h

Been dreaming of this for a decade. 🙏🏽

kukuwa. @kukuwa.blacksky.app · 1d

@nhannahjones.bsky.social is opening a literary salon & bookstore two blocks away from me and I’m unwell 🤧🥹 #forusbyus

www.brownstoner.com/brooklyn-lif...

Bookstore to Open in Former Macon Hardware Digs

Pulitzer-winning journalist Nikole Hannah-Jones is teaming up with Bed-Vyne's owners to create a literary salon in the Bed Stuy building.

www.brownstoner.com

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 21h

Meaning that the political power of a state and its Representatives + Senators to guide resources toward the people of the state is vastly higher than that of what a US Territory can do for its people.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 22h

And I maintain that the best way to stick it to colonizers is to join their polity as equals and extract reparations through subsidies.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 22h

But in a larger sense, I fundamentally think that globbing onto statehood benefits all and can reduce bigotry.

We would be less racist now against SE Asians if they had become a state, and I think a majority Puertorriqueño state would do the same here for people with Caribbean ancestry.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 22h

And yes, it's great that they finally got their independence, from Spain AND us. Also, they're HUGE, and they still benefit from the US security umbrella against China.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 22h

I'll be the first to say that Americans of that era were even more racist than now, which I'm sure was largely responsible for statehood not being offered. But the Philippines was the territorial equivalent of Hawaii. And so it should have been offered statehood instead of being left a territory.

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Radley Balko @radleybalko.bsky.social · 23h

The Supreme Court’s majority right wing indicated in oral arguments that they think racism is over on the same day that the vice president defended the “I love Hitler” guy, and that the NYT reported that the current administration plans to accept only white, English-speaking refugees.

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Tom Joscelyn @tomjoscelyn.bsky.social · 1d

Hakeem Jeffries posted pictures of two Rep. Members posing with “Young Republicans” who were part of a racist text thread (as reported by Politico).

In response, Mike Davis (well-connected in Trump World & on the Hill) called Jeffries a “house slave” for George Soros - proving Jeffries’ point.

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Zohran Kwame Mamdani @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social · 1d

tfw your 1,000-word tweets aren't working

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The Lawrence Times @lawrencekstimes.com · 23h

Former Marion Police Chief Gideon Cody probably committed a felony crime when he told a witness to delete text messages they exchanged before, during and after he led raids on a newspaper office and the publisher’s home, a district judge ruled.
Via @kansasreflector.com:
lawrenceks.news/4oo9fZv

Judge orders ex-police chief who led raid on Kansas newspaper to stand trial for deleted texts

lawrenceks.news

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The Ass is the father of the legs @internethippo.bsky.social · 1d

"The president is illegitimate and should be removed from office" is the minimum pitch for anyone nominally opposing him

Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 1d

Trump is upfront in saying he will use the shutdown to punish Democrats, and here are the receipts. About $27.2 billion cut from Dem districts compared to about $0.7 billion in GOP districts.
We all complain about the media, but need this type of in-depth journalism.
www.nytimes.com/interactive/...

Trump Halts Billions in Grants for Democratic Districts During Shutdown (Gift Article)

The Trump administration has frozen or canceled nearly $28 billion primarily located in Democratic-led districts, according to an analysis by The New York Times.

www.nytimes.com

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 23h

Amazing.

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

last i checked these young republicans were like 25 years old. but this is a classic case of infantilization to diminish the significance of the offense. www.yahoo.com/news/article...

Vance downplays group chat messages: ‘Kids do stupid things, especially young boys.’

The vice president called the texts "edgy, offensive jokes."

www.yahoo.com

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jamelle @jamellebouie.net · 1d

kavanaugh seems to be channeling bradley. “When a man has emerged from slavery, and by the aid of beneficent legislation has shaken off the inseparable concomitants of that state, there must be some stage in the progress of his elevation when he…ceases to be the special favorite of the laws.”

Jamal Greene @jamalgreene.bsky.social · 1d

Justice Kavanaugh in the Callais oral argument keeps alluding to some longstanding requirement of strict scrutiny that use of race have a time limit. This is invented.

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 23h

The cash transfers to subsidize states are just so insane in the US. MS gets tons of money thanks to having 2 Senators, and that's despite its relative poverty.

Much respect for Filipinos. Their two (or more) Senators for 120M would have held their own if they had become one or more states.

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 23h

Yes Native Indigenous Hawaiians are on average worse off relative to white and Asian immigrants to the islands. Would that happen to PR? The GDP per capita of Hawaii is in the top quarter of US states.

The distance doesn't matter. Hawaiian Senators have insane power despite the TZ difference.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 1d

You misunderstand.

I fully believe that Filipinos are capable of self-governance, just like I believe New Yorkers are capable of self-governance, and full engagement with their national polity. I just think it should have been shared national polity.

Diversity is strength!

Distance? Hawai'i!

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 1d

I'm an outsider who has only visited but has heard a little of the sordid history of what we have done to PR. It's awful!

I think a valid response to colonialism is taking up full political representation in the parent body politic to best enable reparative justice, e.g., via cash transfers.

Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 1d

I'm happy to grant that the statehooders may be self-serving self-interested assholes.

Having said that, I'm a selfish American who believes that giving Puertorriqueños two senators is better for the rest of us.

I also think the Philippines should have been given statehood!

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Vasabjit Banerjee @vasabjit.bsky.social · 1d

Tell someone this in earnest and they'll tell you why electoral politics forbids this because of lost jobs. My argument is that this logic held in 1991-2022. We need numbers and supply chain redundancy NOW. There's plenty of investments and jobs for everyone. Even for those making Soviet legacy kit.

Vasabjit Banerjee @vasabjit.bsky.social · 1d

I'm tired of saying this, but the US, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and UK need to unify their Defense Industrial Bases or at least increase coordination to overcome the manufacturing lag with China. It's still not enough. NATO as a whole needs to do it. Callaghan explained all this in the 1970s.

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Vasabjit Banerjee @vasabjit.bsky.social · 1d

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 1d

There was a person moving into our building today who was taking up most of the passenger elevator with their stuff.

They have a friend named Chandler helping them, and I had to restrain myself from making a terrible “Pivot” joke.

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Satadru Pramanik @satmandu.bsky.social · 1d

But my comity with the Senators across the aisle!

a man is standing in the rain wearing a hoodie

Alt: David Tennant is standing in the rain wearing a hoodie. He has a concerned, potentially sad look on his face. He silently screams pathos, and judges.

media.tenor.com