Dean Baratta
@twsisu.bsky.social
Three decades (😱) as an intelligence analyst with portfolios ranging from the 8th Guards Army to the Bloods street gang to domestic terrorism of various stripes. Pro 🇺🇸, NATO, 🇺🇦 and the US Postal Service.
December 10, 2024 at 12:27 PM
Some people commit violence to further an ideology…
Some people adopt an ideology to commit violence…
Some people adopt an ideology to commit violence…
December 9, 2024 at 9:25 PM
Some people commit violence to further an ideology…
Some people adopt an ideology to commit violence…
Some people adopt an ideology to commit violence…
Followed one account yesterday and got blocked by 125. Not for anything I posted or liked…just for following an account.
That’s what social media takfir looks like…
That’s what social media takfir looks like…
December 9, 2024 at 7:40 PM
Followed one account yesterday and got blocked by 125. Not for anything I posted or liked…just for following an account.
That’s what social media takfir looks like…
That’s what social media takfir looks like…
Big opportunity to make money now in Syria for anyone who can sell Harlan Crow an Assad statue to go with his “garden statues of dictators”.
December 9, 2024 at 7:25 PM
Big opportunity to make money now in Syria for anyone who can sell Harlan Crow an Assad statue to go with his “garden statues of dictators”.
Bonus points if there’s a Mario accomplice…
December 9, 2024 at 7:22 PM
Bonus points if there’s a Mario accomplice…
Someone at McDonald’s deserves a HUGE raise for identifying the shooter.
Also, another datapoint that “see something say something” really does work.
Also, another datapoint that “see something say something” really does work.
December 9, 2024 at 7:13 PM
Someone at McDonald’s deserves a HUGE raise for identifying the shooter.
Also, another datapoint that “see something say something” really does work.
Also, another datapoint that “see something say something” really does work.
True! And the exact same happens with any platform that becomes (through accident or design) an ideological echo chamber.
You can still have robust TOS and active Trust & Safety policies but diverse voices are essential for conversations.
You can still have robust TOS and active Trust & Safety policies but diverse voices are essential for conversations.
i suspect that with no liberal presence on X and more far-right ones to the same degree the right will slowly work their way into more and more extreme positions on the border and post-constitutional governance
i wonder what a year of stewing their brains on contemporary groyper X is going to do to the brains of GOP elites
(reading Sunstein's "Going To Extremes" rn)
(reading Sunstein's "Going To Extremes" rn)
December 8, 2024 at 11:45 PM
True! And the exact same happens with any platform that becomes (through accident or design) an ideological echo chamber.
You can still have robust TOS and active Trust & Safety policies but diverse voices are essential for conversations.
You can still have robust TOS and active Trust & Safety policies but diverse voices are essential for conversations.
Had HAMAS not attacked Israel, Hezbollah and Iran would have been in better positions to make up for the loss of Russian support in Syria.
Nobody should have been surprised at how strategically stupid the Oct 7 attack was (or the cost to Palestinian civilians).
Nobody should have been surprised at how strategically stupid the Oct 7 attack was (or the cost to Palestinian civilians).
"With the defeats of Hamas and Hezbollah, and with the collapse of the Assad regime, Iran has suffered irrecoverable losses," writes Eliot A. Cohen:
Khamenei Loses Everything
The October 7 attack on Israel has now cost Iran its regional proxy forces.
www.theatlantic.com
December 8, 2024 at 6:33 PM
Had HAMAS not attacked Israel, Hezbollah and Iran would have been in better positions to make up for the loss of Russian support in Syria.
Nobody should have been surprised at how strategically stupid the Oct 7 attack was (or the cost to Palestinian civilians).
Nobody should have been surprised at how strategically stupid the Oct 7 attack was (or the cost to Palestinian civilians).
Interesting watching people who spent the past decade praising institutions and the legal system, and decrying violent extremism now cheering on a murderer.
Folks trying to make this guy their own version of “Saint Elliot”. I’ll pass.
Folks trying to make this guy their own version of “Saint Elliot”. I’ll pass.
December 8, 2024 at 12:46 AM
Interesting watching people who spent the past decade praising institutions and the legal system, and decrying violent extremism now cheering on a murderer.
Folks trying to make this guy their own version of “Saint Elliot”. I’ll pass.
Folks trying to make this guy their own version of “Saint Elliot”. I’ll pass.
It’s getting lonely being lawful good in the U.S….
Internet sleuths are actively avoiding the United Healthcare CEO story, with some of the top true crime influencers saying they won't help find the suspect
www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...
www.nbcnews.com/tech/interne...
Why top internet sleuths say they won't help find the UnitedHealthcare CEO killer
TikTok users who would normally leap at the chance to identify an alleged criminal are standing down during the manhunt for the killer of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson.
www.nbcnews.com
December 7, 2024 at 9:08 PM
It’s getting lonely being lawful good in the U.S….
The answer is encapsulated in one of my final arguments with my father who, explaining why he, an educated, upper middle class man who suffered financially from Trump’s financial shenanigans, supported him to the hilt said:
“Because they take us seriously and don’t look down at us!”
“Because they take us seriously and don’t look down at us!”
either people specify what they mean when they say “elite” or the term is just meaningless pejorative. both parties are dominated by elites in any conventional sense of what that means! the question is: why are right-wing elites more palatable to voters than liberal ones?
November 10, 2024 at 3:11 PM
The answer is encapsulated in one of my final arguments with my father who, explaining why he, an educated, upper middle class man who suffered financially from Trump’s financial shenanigans, supported him to the hilt said:
“Because they take us seriously and don’t look down at us!”
“Because they take us seriously and don’t look down at us!”
The lesson I don’t think Democrats will accept (yet) is that the emphasis on racial/gender/orientation identities has clearly outrun its relevance. I suspect most people just don’t think primarily in terms of BIPOC, LatinX, LGBTQIA+, etc (including themselves!)
November 10, 2024 at 3:00 PM
The lesson I don’t think Democrats will accept (yet) is that the emphasis on racial/gender/orientation identities has clearly outrun its relevance. I suspect most people just don’t think primarily in terms of BIPOC, LatinX, LGBTQIA+, etc (including themselves!)
The war won’t end until one of the belligerents has had enough.
And as both Hamas and the Israeli government see this conflict as existential, and neither prioritizes the safety of the Palestinian people, people will continue to die, regardless of what the U.S. does.
And as both Hamas and the Israeli government see this conflict as existential, and neither prioritizes the safety of the Palestinian people, people will continue to die, regardless of what the U.S. does.
November 10, 2024 at 2:51 PM
The war won’t end until one of the belligerents has had enough.
And as both Hamas and the Israeli government see this conflict as existential, and neither prioritizes the safety of the Palestinian people, people will continue to die, regardless of what the U.S. does.
And as both Hamas and the Israeli government see this conflict as existential, and neither prioritizes the safety of the Palestinian people, people will continue to die, regardless of what the U.S. does.
Fascinating watching the comments on this video on Mastodon which pinball between “hilarious mocking of Trump!” and “you’re spreading fascist propaganda!”
youtu.be/3BrCvZmSnKA
youtu.be/3BrCvZmSnKA
The Kiffness - Eating the Cats ft. Donald Trump (Debate Remix)
YouTube video by The Kiffness
youtu.be
September 14, 2024 at 12:07 PM
Fascinating watching the comments on this video on Mastodon which pinball between “hilarious mocking of Trump!” and “you’re spreading fascist propaganda!”
youtu.be/3BrCvZmSnKA
youtu.be/3BrCvZmSnKA
The Caine Mutiny (1954) - Paranoid Breakdown Scene (8/9) | Movieclips
YouTube video by Movieclips
youtu.be
September 11, 2024 at 11:22 AM
Unexpectedly great story about Colonial Williamsburg and the work of the interpreters there. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
Where MAGA Granddads and Resistance Moms Go to Learn America’s Most Painful History Lessons
Welcome to Colonial Williamsburg, the largest living museum that is taking a radical approach to our national divides.
www.politico.com
September 9, 2024 at 1:42 AM
Unexpectedly great story about Colonial Williamsburg and the work of the interpreters there. www.politico.com/news/magazin...
“I want every single one of us to fucking get rich…I want to be sitting on a yacht in two years with every one of you,”
Inevitably, scratch any far right militia “patriot” and there’s a con man underneath. Usually a dumb one but still dangerous.
www.propublica.org/article/insi...
Inevitably, scratch any far right militia “patriot” and there’s a con man underneath. Usually a dumb one but still dangerous.
www.propublica.org/article/insi...
Armed and Underground: Inside the Turbulent, Secret World of an American Militia
Rounding up migrants. Lists of “friendly” sheriffs. Debating political assassinations. Internal messages reveal AP3's journey from Jan. 6 through the tumultuous lead-up to the 2024 election. One membe...
www.propublica.org
August 29, 2024 at 1:37 AM
“I want every single one of us to fucking get rich…I want to be sitting on a yacht in two years with every one of you,”
Inevitably, scratch any far right militia “patriot” and there’s a con man underneath. Usually a dumb one but still dangerous.
www.propublica.org/article/insi...
Inevitably, scratch any far right militia “patriot” and there’s a con man underneath. Usually a dumb one but still dangerous.
www.propublica.org/article/insi...
True…also, we can’t hold voters blameless in this. The fact that Trump is a lying, self-serving, con man is already baked in for most people. ~30% like him for that, 40% hate him regardless and the rest don’t seem to care about it at all.
Every paper in the country would demand she step down.
Trump gets the most generous coverage of any US politician of my lifetime: story will be gone tomorrow. No demands to step down. No demands for an apology. Nothing.
Trump gets the most generous coverage of any US politician of my lifetime: story will be gone tomorrow. No demands to step down. No demands for an apology. Nothing.
August 28, 2024 at 11:13 PM
True…also, we can’t hold voters blameless in this. The fact that Trump is a lying, self-serving, con man is already baked in for most people. ~30% like him for that, 40% hate him regardless and the rest don’t seem to care about it at all.
I always think about my time in the Army and the sub population of soldiers who would talk nostalgically about how their fathers would beat the shit out of them.
It was so weird…
It was so weird…
In 2016, Vox accurately predicted whether people supported Trump based on answers to a parenting style assessment. This has stuck with me.
www.vox.com/2016/2/23/11...
www.vox.com/2016/2/23/11...
August 24, 2024 at 10:44 PM
I always think about my time in the Army and the sub population of soldiers who would talk nostalgically about how their fathers would beat the shit out of them.
It was so weird…
It was so weird…
Reposted by Dean Baratta
That’s an actual apology, too.
MMA fighter Ronda Rousey has apologized for spreading the Sandy Hook conspiracy:
"To anyone else that's fallen down the black hole of bullshit. It doesn't make you edgy, or an independent thinker, you're not doing your due diligence entertaining every possibility by digesting these conspiracies."
"To anyone else that's fallen down the black hole of bullshit. It doesn't make you edgy, or an independent thinker, you're not doing your due diligence entertaining every possibility by digesting these conspiracies."
August 23, 2024 at 5:16 PM
That’s an actual apology, too.
I would really like it if someone could identify a real problem to solve rather than just plastering AI on everything within reach in the hopes that it turn out useful.
WHY
You guys can't even get the normal cut and paste to work and you've been in charge of the dominant word processor for thirty fucking years
www.zdnet.com/article/micr...
You guys can't even get the normal cut and paste to work and you've been in charge of the dominant word processor for thirty fucking years
www.zdnet.com/article/micr...
Microsoft launches an AI-powered copy-and-paste tool. Here's how you can use it
Part of Microsoft's free PowerToys, the new Advanced Paste tool lets you revise pasted text using AI-based suggestions.
www.zdnet.com
August 24, 2024 at 2:06 AM
I would really like it if someone could identify a real problem to solve rather than just plastering AI on everything within reach in the hopes that it turn out useful.
Who would’ve guessed that slogans like “Genocide Joe” and “Killer Kamala” would result in not getting a prime time speaking slot in front of 20 million?
Left activists continue to make really dumb, self-sabotaging tactical decisions.
Left activists continue to make really dumb, self-sabotaging tactical decisions.
August 23, 2024 at 11:21 AM
Who would’ve guessed that slogans like “Genocide Joe” and “Killer Kamala” would result in not getting a prime time speaking slot in front of 20 million?
Left activists continue to make really dumb, self-sabotaging tactical decisions.
Left activists continue to make really dumb, self-sabotaging tactical decisions.
Tony Evers seems like he was hitting the sauce…
August 21, 2024 at 1:03 AM
Tony Evers seems like he was hitting the sauce…
Lots of great things about universal #healthcare but having 3 relatives in #Sweden going through #cancer treatment, really highlights some ways that system is seriously behind American medicine. Communication with patients is slow & creates major anxiety, treatment can take MUCH longer than the U.S.
August 18, 2024 at 2:48 PM
Lots of great things about universal #healthcare but having 3 relatives in #Sweden going through #cancer treatment, really highlights some ways that system is seriously behind American medicine. Communication with patients is slow & creates major anxiety, treatment can take MUCH longer than the U.S.
Brilliant piece breaking down the claims and counterclaims surrounding the military service of our two vice-presidential candidates. Given how few people serve it can be easy to miss a lot of the context & nuance that are important to the military/veteran community
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
What ‘Seeing Combat,’ ‘Stolen Valor’ and ‘Abandoned His Troops’ Actually Mean
It can be hard to understand some of the accusations aimed at vice presidential candidates Tim Walz and JD Vance, so we asked a veteran to decode them.
www.politico.com
August 17, 2024 at 12:00 PM
Brilliant piece breaking down the claims and counterclaims surrounding the military service of our two vice-presidential candidates. Given how few people serve it can be easy to miss a lot of the context & nuance that are important to the military/veteran community
www.politico.com/news/magazin...
www.politico.com/news/magazin...