Washington is full of rule-following valedictorians who were inspired by the West Wing and did Model UN and moot court and studied their heroes and who believe in using government to help people. That's nice, but you need to learn how to swing on the illiterate bullies who steal lunch money.

Eliminating the Department of Education, banning trans athletes and gender affirming care, everything Musk has done, purging government agencies, banning DEI - all of that is an exercise in pure power. None of it is legal. Complying isn't legally required with any of it - it's a choice.

we elevated the nerd, but we never examined whether, despite the social awkwardness and bullying, they were actually good people, or simply anti-social losers who should have stayed powerless, jacking off in their parents' basements

They have Cadillac level health insurance. They can afford a couple of fisticuff related injuries. If they took an oath to protect AND DEFEND the Constitution, they need to act like they mean it.

So the FBI could surveil & then assassinate a 21 year old Civil Rights leader in 1969, but is powerless to take any steps to stop--checks notes--a 19 year old who goes by the name Big Balls from defunding and defrauding a $6 Trillion economy? Do I have that right?

The reason the Dems aren't putting their bodies on the line to try to stop Elon and those little DOGE turds is because they find more common cause with billionaires than with the people who elected them. It's as simple as that.

Laws are only worth the paper they're printed on if there's actual people with the power and will to enforce them.

In the history of whiteness a minority group has never been able to “work” themselves into a protected status It will always chose its own bigotries and fears No matter how “good” you are

💯 And the framing of diversity initiatives as acts of generosity perpetuated false narratives about Black inferiority that are being leveraged today.

At a certain point the “leftists” who hate liberals more than they hate the fascists are going to have to admit that they’ve been playing for the fascist team.

“Are now” kinda tells a story in and of itself.

Once again: DON'T GET RID OF YOUR DVDs.

Trump's freezing of all civil rights cases at the DOJ is not part of an anti-DEI agenda, but an anti-civil rights agenda. DOJ was *founded* to protect Black rights during Reconstruction. That this difference is unclear speaks to the success of conservative propagandists and the failures of liberals.

Americans care about convenience above everything else, as long as fascism doesn't interfere with that then they won't care.

It's not fascism if it's something you want!

any other massive Ls the democratic party wants to take you have 24 hours

When the question is "Why doesn't the Biden administration get credit for X?" the answer, all too frequently, is that the Biden administration didn't do any of the half dozen most obvious things to increase the odds that they'd get credit for X.

Absolutely. "Our agenda is controversial, and we want to attract skeptics to our side, so what if we just ... half-assed it? As a gesture of good faith and unity?" is a well they returned to over and over.

James Baldwin: (Most patient, heartbreakingly eloquent description of the experience of Black suffering in America you've ever heard) William Buckley (smirking): Well, heheh, y'see, what Mistah Baldwin seems not to realize is that, ah, as the poet said, Politics nerds: Wow... they were both so smart

In the words of Huey Freeman: "You know we could all be reading a book right now."

i do believe one of the lesser acknowledged, but outsized, impacts of copaganda like law & order is that it has influenced multiple successive generations of people to believe that, because the government underfunds them, public defenders are categorically bad at their jobs.

A lot of yall gays in blue states need to remember that the only reason yall can sit in your San Francisco apartment with your twink boyfriend and your three legged rescue dog is because drug addicts, homeless people and sex workers went out and threw shit at cops.

Remember a few years ago when that study came out about how the majority of white folks don't have a Black friend? Well, Meta was like "okay bet"

It takes a stunt queen to know a stunt queen.

Preach!

You know why I love reading? These days it’s one of the few respites from being constantly advertised to.

a lot of being on the internet is having people with handles like “smol bean 🥺” telling you they hope you die because you said a billionaire is bad with the wrong syntax

Some American's interest is "hurting people I don't like"

My username is not a cheeky joke, it's my default setting in most conversations.

The physical resistance of our front-loading VCR followed by its rewarding clunk-whir-hum.

These coming years... it's gonna be tough watching black people cling to the myth of America and hoping for an America that never existed and was never meant to exist.

"Selling Out Is Bad" is a valuable concept and despite all the baggage and bullshit and elitism it could contain it's actually really good to reinforce the ideal that having integrity when it matters, especially when it hurts, is what good/cool people do. Should be adapted instead of jettisoned.

I follow <400 people on here. And this little tantrum skeet just guaranteed that I will NEVER follow you.

Something I've never heard articulated by people who have experienced (upward) class mobility after growing up in poverty: The loneliness of poverty never leaves you. Your friends who grew up middle class or better talk about what their parents did for a living, what vacations they went on, etc.

I met my great-grandpa's youngest brother today (and possibly his last living sibling?). What a gift. He's 81 years old. If my great-grandpa were still here, he'd be 101.

THE BELL JAR HARD ❌ It was a queer, sultry summer, the summer they electrocuted the Rosenbergs, and I didn't know what I was doing in New York EASY ✅ That summer was sizzling, and so were the Rosenbergs

Mia looks like Jigsaw. That's it. That's the skeet. #rhop

Quad always sounds like a preacher giving a sermon at a drag brunch. #Married2Med

This app needs a way to remove yourself from starter packs and also a way to mass delete followers. It seems like most of the follows I've gotten recently are spam/bots and follow farmers (h/t @rahaeli.bsky.social for teaching me that word).

Gizelle is NEVER beating those colorism accusations. And she shouldn't! #rhop

Pointing out that an unrepentant sexual predator is being hired to do national law enforcement is only a gotcha if you do not understand a single thing about police officers.

Watching Kenneth Branagh's version of Much Ado About Nothing for the first time. Keanu Reeves isn't as fluid with Shakespearean English as Denzel Washington is, but when he stood up from that massage table and declared himself a villain? 🫠🥵

Poor character written by an author who has experienced poverty: My problem is that I'm $300 short on the rent and now my car is making a noise Poor character written by a rich author: My problem is that I feel so inferior beside these beautiful, sophisticated rich people

One thing I like about Bluesky is that you can say "murdered" or "killed" or "strangled" or "pushed in front of a subway car" or "sent to Davy Jones" or "gifted a pair of concrete shoes" or "shoved into the a wood chipper" or "poisoned like a Medici" instead of "unalived"

Duo, like your brain, never ever forgets your mistakes.

Like... look at these! The bottom right print would look really nice on a sweater.