KevinB
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kbensel.bsky.social
KevinB
@kbensel.bsky.social
140 followers 580 following 100 posts
Believer in the dignity of all people and soccer fan.
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Reposted by KevinB
esqueer.net
"The death of truth is the ultimate victory of evil. When truth leaves us, when we let it slip away, when it is ripped from our hands, we become vulnerable to the appetite of whatever monster screams at us the loudest."

-Mon Mothma (Andor)
May 7, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Reposted by KevinB
aclu.org
If you're taking to the streets to protest, know your rights.
"KNOW YOUR PROTEST RIGHTS: You don't need a permit to protest in response to breaking news and you don't need a permit to march in the streets or along sidewalks, as long as you're not obstructing traffic or access to buildings. You have the right to photograph or film anything in plain view, including federal buildings and law enforcement, so long as you are not trespassing or violating a lawful order. You should not interfere with the actions of the government officials you are recording. If you believe your rights have been violated, when you can, write down everything you remember, get contact information for witnesses, and take photographs of any injuries. If you get stopped by the police, ask if you're free to go. If they say yes, calmly walk away. If you get arrested, you have a right to ask why. Otherwise, say you wish to remain silent and ask for a lawyer immediately. Don't sign, say or agree to anything without a lawyer present. If you get stopped by a member of the military or any law enforcement officer at a protest, you have the right to remain silent or to tell them that you'll only answer questions in the presence of an attorney-no matter your citizenship or immigration status." "If you interact with ICE in public: Ask if you are free to leave. If so, you may calmly walk away. You have the right to refuse consent to a search. You have the right to remain silent. You do not have to discuss your immigration status with anyone, such as about where you were born, whether you are a citizen, or how you entered the country. If you have valid immigration documents, you should show them. Never provide fake documents. If you are arrested, say that you wish to remain silent until speaking with a lawyer. You have the right to record your interaction with immigration agents as long as you do not interfere."
January 10, 2026 at 5:57 PM
Reposted by KevinB
chrisrifer.bsky.social
This is like if you asked AI to create the perfect metaphor for 2025.
jjvincent.bsky.social James Vincent @jjvincent.bsky.social · Dec 27
another robot highlight for 2025: man wearing humanoid mocap suit kicks himself in the balls
December 27, 2025 at 10:18 PM
kbensel.bsky.social
@chrisrifer.bsky.social This made me think about your comments regarding what the Timbers need to do in order to make the team a desirable destination for young players (a plan for the player's development, an agreement to sell when an acceptable offer arrives, etc).

www.nytimes.com/athletic/681...
Meet the German transfer guru behind Ekitike, Marmoush and Kolo Muani
www.nytimes.com
November 21, 2025 at 9:06 PM
Reposted by KevinB
jeffvandermeer.bsky.social
This heartfelt and meaningful statement by Portland resident and author Cristina Breshears on another social media platform bears reposting here. I don't think the intent is to idealize Portland but to remind all of us what is important and why. (Posted here with permission.)
For nine nights now, the steady thrum of Black Hawk helicopters has circled over Portland. The sound is constant, invasive; a low mechanical beating above our homes. It’s expensive. It’s intimidating. And it’s unnecessary. Our protests have been largely peaceful. There is no insurrection here. Yet this federalized military presence makes us feel like we are living in a war zone (the very kind of chaos this administration claims to be protecting us from). The irony is painful: it is only this occupation that makes Portland feel unsafe. Each hour of helicopter flight costs taxpayers between $2,000 and $4,000, depending on crew, fuel, and maintenance. Multiply that by multiple aircraft over multiple nights, and you’re looking at hundreds of thousands (if not millions) of dollars burned into the sky. Meanwhile, the Woodstock Food Pantry at All Saints Episcopal Church — which feeds working families, elders, and people with disabilities — has seen its federal funding slashed by 75%. How can we justify pouring public money into intimidation while cutting aid to those who simply need to eat? This is waste, fraud, and abuse in plain sight: * Waste of public resources on military theatrics. * Fraud in the name of “public safety.” * Abuse of the communities that federal agencies claim to protect. Portland is a Sanctuary City. A sanctuary city is not a fortress. It’s a promise — a living vow that a community will protect the dignity and safety of everyone who calls it home. It means that local governments and ordinary people alike will refuse to criminalize survival. That schools, clinics, churches, and shelters will remain safe spaces no matter who you are or where you were born. But the term reaches far beyond policy. It’s an ethic of belonging; a refusal to criminalize need, difference, or desperation. Sanctuary isn’t weakness. It’s courage. It takes moral strength to meet suffering with care instead of punishment, to believe that our neighbors’ safety is bound up in our own, to insist that safety is not achieved through force but through community, inclusion, and trust. It is living Matthew 25:40 out loud and in deed. It is an act of moral imagination and moral defiance. To hold sanctuary is to say: you belong here. When we hold space for the most vulnerable — refugees, the unhoused, the undocumented, the disabled, the working poor, the displaced — we become something larger than a collection of individuals. We become a moral body. We do more than offer charity. We offer witness. We declare that the measure of a nation is found not in its towers or tanks, but in its tenderness. Sanctuary cities are not lawless; they are soulful. They represent the conscience of the nation, a place where the laws of empathy still apply. To make sanctuary is to affirm that the United States is not merely a geographic territory, but a moral experiment: a republic that must constantly choose between fear and compassion, between domination and democracy. A nation’s soul is measured not by the might of its military, but by the mercy of its people. When helicopters circle our skies in the name of order, while food pantries struggle to feed the hungry, we are forced to ask: What are we defending, and from whom? The soul of a nation survives only when we make sanctuary for one another. Not through walls or weapons, but through compassion and collective will. If we allow intimidation to replace compassion, we will have traded our conscience for control. Please know that despite the hum of war machines overhead, the conscience of our city — whimsical, creative, stubbornly kind — can still be heard. Portland is not the problem. Portland is the reminder. A reminder that a city can still choose to be sanctuary. That a people can still choose to be human.
October 12, 2025 at 1:02 AM
Reposted by KevinB
picklesbaseball.bsky.social
more dillon, less ice
October 3, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by KevinB
chrisrifer.bsky.social
It’s really telling that a minister asking the president to treat vulnerable peoples with mercy—a central pillar of Jesus’s ministry—is treated as more transgressive than the president’s right-hand man making a gesture that is most naturally interpreted as a Nazi salute.
January 22, 2025 at 3:10 PM
kbensel.bsky.social
I encourage anyone in Washington state who cares about transgender youth to post their comments on this bill.
adora.blue adora blue @ ??? mystery? @adora.blue · Jan 27
there’s a bill on the floor rn to outlaw gender affirming care for minors in washington, PLEASE go to this link and select "oppose." takes 30 sec. examples on stuff to say in thread!
app.leg.wa.gov/pbc/bill/1038
January 27, 2025 at 9:56 PM
kbensel.bsky.social
S & C and I built this today for Abuelita for Christmas using the Lego Builder app. It was a super fun experience!
Lego Poinsettia
December 8, 2024 at 8:29 PM