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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 4h

time magazine owned by a trump ally. washington post owned by a trump ally. CBS now advised by a trump ally. new york times want to compete with new york post for allyship. dominion voting purchased by a trump ally. facebook, instagram, twitter, tiktok, all overseen by trump allies. it's bad, man.

Paul Waldman @paulwaldman.bsky.social · 16h

Time magazine is owned by Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff, who just came out as a Trump supporter and said it would be great if he sent the National Guard to invade San Francisco

Matt Novak @paleofuture.bsky.social · 17h

Just in case the dramatically low Leni Riefenstahl-style angle was too subtle, they used a word from her most famous movie

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 4h

yeah i see that discussion now. i'm still hopeful that congress will buckle from various pressure points - industry people who need regulators, lobbyists who need someone to lobby, the public in general - but this seems extremely dicey.

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 4h

look at that beaut bsky.app/profile/tznk...

K. Chen @tznkai.bsky.social · 14h

The original post has been deleted or I've been blocked, so my recreation of the greatest political compass of all time.

Y Axis: Good Faith / Bad Faith
X Axis: Can Read / Can't Read

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 4h

I guess I'm not that pessimistic yet - there's a lot of hungry mouths that are gonna put a lot of pressure on Republicans and Trump loves to fold - but it's a bleak possibility. If it gets that bad, not really sure what our options are.

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Reposted by Shimmersoft

Michele @funnymichele.bsky.social · 1d

🐸💪🏼🇺🇲😁

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 16h

My stated position has been that Trump either dies by Christmas or lives another decade and he just keeps offering hope for the former unprompted

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 16h

shout out to my beautiful and funny girlfriend on every day but today especially

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 17h

this. the failure to read and the failure to read charitably look nearly identical in terms of outcome, which is problematic when you have a communication method that encourages both rushed reading and unkind reading.

The Wicker Dan (1973) @danlehner.bsky.social · 18h

this is neither more pessimistic nor optimistic, but I actually think online is a bad way to judge actual reading comprehension because, IMO at least, the driving engine behind “so you hate waffles”-style tweeting is “in how bad of faith do you want to interpret what a person you dislike is saying”

pork, cheese, broccoli rabe @garlicbuffalo.gobirds.biz · 23h

so one of the things I’ve started to realize with having a notable following On Here is exactly how much of a reading comprehension problem we have in this country

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 18h

"common sense values" like [checks notes] white supremacy

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 19h

hot take but the last 'revolutionary' innovation that was worth the hype? dogs. "adorable wolf cub that will love you unconditionally for its entire life if you're even remotely nice to it" like damn we actually did that. granted it took literal millenia of iteration. might be a lesson in there.

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 19h

the relationship dynamic most conducive to long-term satisfaction is Yap > Clap > Yap. some people yap fine but the clap sucks. some people clap fine but the yap sucks. some people can yap and then clap but struggle to return to yap. you need a smooth cycle.

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 20h

I could see the initial typo being innocent: m and n are right next to each other on a keyboard and "man" is a more common word in English than "mam" and brains can easily trick you into thinking you wrote it right. But the failure to correct before publishing? That's just not caring.

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 20h

matt wants daddy derek to put stoller in the stroller

Ghostin this Hell @hoovybaby.bsky.social · 1d

Oh honey what is you doing

Antitrust fetishist Matt Stoller picking a fight with Derek dieworkwear

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 20h

"menswear writer drives thousands of men from all across the social spectrum into a frothing rage every day by poasting" is easily one of the best bits on the internet

Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 21h

Checking in on the research director of the American Economic Liberties Project

@matthewstoller on X: Your weird insecurities aside, you consistently lie that native born Americans can’t and never have made clothes, and push offshoring in sleazy ways. Then when confronted you talk about your left wing views. You’re slime.

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 20h

My guess is that when Democrats are in charge, things are relatively peaceful so people are suspectible to hysterical propaganda and when Republicans are in charge, things are relatively chaotic so people are suspectible to genuine outrage.

lastpositivist.bsky.social @lastpositivist.bsky.social · 1d

It's interesting in itself that the public's default reaction to whatever the government is doing seems to be "stop doing that, try the opposite". It suggests something quite profound is going wrong.

Lee Drutman @leedrutman.bsky.social · 1d

Thermostatic public opinion, reacting against the governing regime, like old faithful.
globalaffairs.org/research/pub...

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

lol i was gonna cite Luke if I had the space but yep same mythical archetype at work!

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

Seeing some leftists being like "good job on organizing some protests ig but that doesn't actually do anything unlike my idea: a general strike" and then not building the community and support structures necessary for a general strike.

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

I mean it doesn't seem to help them electorally when Trump is in power (see 2018, 2020) but it works great when he's not! (see 2016, 2022, 2024). Which does raise some questions about what 2030 looks like. Assuming we get there.

Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

Move over "blonde and blue eyes". The new fascism ideal that dear leader doesn't embody is "fierce and no fries".

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

[guy whose only exposure to mythology is the bible] this anime is giving me real jesus vibes

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

If Thiel were just a tad smarter he could discern that Luffy is not "Christlike" so much as Luffy and Jesus have archetypal overlap. "Plucky young rebel with strong values stands up to higher (vaguely nefarious) powers and attracts a following of friends and believers" is classic myth-making.

Airship Chronos says TRANS RIGHTS @airshipchronos.bsky.social · 1d

Sorry but the best revelation of today is that Peter Thiel has capital T Thoughts on fucking ONE PIECE. What the fuck? I'm still laughing about "Christlike Luffy".

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

Every time someone makes me read something Peter Thiel said it’s like “Scrooge McDuck is Jesus Christ and Huey, Dewey, and Louie are Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel and Daisy is Mary Magdalene and that’s why women voting has lowered American sperm count.”

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

A persistent disparity between parties is that people wanna love the version of the Republican party that exists solely in their minds and they wanna hate the version of the Democratic party that also exists solely in their minds

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 1d

I remember canvassing in 2018, talking to a Republican who was undecided.

I said Rs had nearly kicked millions off their health insurance and would try again if they won.

“They said they weren’t actually cutting health care” he said to me, clearly in partial disbelief but wishing it were true.

Bobby Kogan @bbkogan.bsky.social · 1d

"I voted for Trump. I didn't expect [him to cut health care.]"

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Reposted by Shimmersoft

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

Me: [some farrago of vapid twatwafflery]

Everyone: [rolls eyes, snorts, shakes head]

Me: IS THIS AN INTELLECTUAL DONUT SHOP BECAUSE I SMELL THE THOUGHT POLICE

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

NYT like "I'm gonna go live with dad bc mom is so MEAN" [dad is an abusive alcoholic who doesn't impose bedtime]

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Shimmersoft @shimmersoft.bsky.social · 1d

Thiel seems like a guy whose intellectual habits would unironically benefit from just reading some TV Tropes

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