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Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦

@alagai.bsky.social

Burkburnett to the Bronx to Buffalo. Preserve democracy. Patriot. Retired microelectronics engineer. Grandmother. USAF Brat.

created October 8, 2023

542 followers 476 following 4,034 posts

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Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

In the meantime, those of us who stand for democracy and oppose Trump should embrace the term "patriot".

1/9/2025, 11:15:44 PM | 3 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Do we know that

1/9/2025, 11:07:17 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

НСмноТко. I studied again recently, planning to go back. Then pandemic. Then war.

1/9/2025, 9:57:54 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Yep. Spoke passable Russian at the time, too. 3 week trip. Long story how it came about, but I joined a camping-driving tour.

1/9/2025, 9:37:48 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I'm on blocklists as anti-trans, "Zionist", "shitlib", "reactionary", and for having "patriot" in my bio. And for some of my follows - yep, I'm evul just for following people (said people being never-Trumpers mostly)

1/9/2025, 9:33:32 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Reading this - he helped this woman then was travelling again when he got hit from behind. So the reason to bring up that he helped that woman was - - what? It's not even like he was hit from behind because he was stopped and that's why he was stopped. It's just gratuitous information.

1/9/2025, 9:29:49 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

The part where he was hit from behind - maybe. The part where he was stopped because he wanted to help a woman being abused in a domestic violence incident - um, I'm gonna say nah.

1/9/2025, 9:26:19 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

One of my most cherished childhood memories was me and cuz's catching river trout in Wisconsin. There were so many we threw them into buckets. Took them home, my aunt taught us how to clean them (YUK!). We were rewarded at dinner with fried trout filets piled up on the platter with more coming.

1/9/2025, 9:18:01 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Heh. It only gets worse.

1/9/2025, 9:08:21 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I had loaded my car and was just just had gotten underway on a cross country trip from NYC to Palo Alto CA. Not six weeks since I returned from a trip to the Soviet Union.

1/9/2025, 9:07:46 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

1/9/2025, 8:48:40 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I recall when I got my ASUS router's firmware updated, by connecting by laptop to the modem directly through a LAN cable, downloading the file, unzipping it, and placing the .exe in the correct path. It felt like:

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1/9/2025, 8:29:02 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

(how did Libya get into this?)

1/9/2025, 8:12:31 PM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

But what were the current *recommendations* for public health, is the question. Consensus on the science takes some time after studies are published (I'm published myself, in a different field), let alone public policy. I remember the precipitous shift, from verboten to "OK for protests".

1/9/2025, 8:03:37 PM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

"typical social post exaggeration" is kind how - MAGA - excuses what Trump spouts 🀨

1/9/2025, 8:01:30 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

And it's even worse than that - journalists in plainly marked vests were killed because they entered the scene after a bombing and the exact same place was bombed again - a double-tap strike. Which they are, astonishingly - trying to pass off as maybe a mistake. Doing it twice. A mistake.

1/9/2025, 7:54:25 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Yep. A textbook example of proportionality is a hospital with a sniper posted on the roof. Bombing a hospital to eliminate a single sniper would be a war crime. But the IDF blithely tells us "we had to do it Hamas had a *camera* there!" www.cnn.com/2025/08/26/m...

1/9/2025, 7:45:02 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Well, read back in the thread - most people vote on impression, not policy. We Dems need to understand that, if we care about any policy.

1/9/2025, 7:42:06 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Is that account possibly a parody? I think the left's tendency to authoritarianism is more in terms of enforcement of their ideals. Rather than an attraction to central power by a ruler or ruling class.

1/9/2025, 7:41:11 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

It's about integrity of advice by experts (public health experts in this case) and public trust. Not about what the right does, esp. re covid which was insane.

1/9/2025, 7:38:49 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

The right was already doing that. Like in the Michigan state house. *Before* George Floyd was murdered. Tom isn't claiming protest and resistance from the right against covid restrictions was because of how health experts OK'd George Floyd protests.

1/9/2025, 7:37:06 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Tom's basic point is how public health experts were *at the time* advising against any large gathering. Outdoors too. But, come the George Floyd protests, the advice changed explicitly because it was for a cause they supported. That hurt their credibility, and faith in experts in general.

1/9/2025, 7:32:45 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I agree with you But in real life I've had my fill of how people read the DSM-IV and run around diagnosing everyone they don't like with this or that personality disorder So I'm a little reticent about exactly what is wrong with the man. Other than "disordered and dangerous"

1/9/2025, 7:16:08 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

This is about what public health experts were saying at the time. None were saying Sturgis was OK.

1/9/2025, 7:10:12 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Well yeah, by comparison. And we voted between the two (basically).

1/9/2025, 7:08:32 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Not at that time

1/9/2025, 6:55:16 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

But Sturgis was an exception, causing a lot of controversy. Then the public health experts turn right around when it's about police brutality not about motorcycles.

1/9/2025, 6:53:57 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

And that did create a lot of infections including deaths in that region. Though later that is thought to be from the indoor gatherings in bars, etc.

1/9/2025, 6:40:37 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Or the urban canyons of Manhattan ...

1/9/2025, 6:39:21 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Yeah. As long as we don't confuse our suspicions with what's factually known. Especially where it my coincide with wishful thinking.

1/9/2025, 6:21:51 PM | 10 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

1/9/2025, 6:19:31 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

They still show restraint regarding Trump. Specifically citing that they haven't examined him professionally. So, yes.

1/9/2025, 6:18:07 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

(her mask is down around her neck ...) (he's got a *dust mask* on ...) (next row back it's over the mouth and not the nose ...)

1/9/2025, 6:13:44 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Sorta. So what?

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1/9/2025, 6:10:29 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

"To a some small extent, others" ??! That was everyone they come home to, come in contact with in their lives the next several days. Masking was made political by the opponents who appeared almost immediately in 2020. This reversal regarding street protest just confirmed that from the left.

1/9/2025, 6:04:05 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

The difference in dispersal making a huge difference in infection - was not understood **at the time**. This rationale came later. I remember this. It went from closed beaches to massive street protests in the space of a week.

1/9/2025, 6:01:27 PM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

No. "SJW's" don't threaten families and the like. They were explicit (read the article) about the *benefit* of standing up against racism (not even of protest in general) vs. the cost of covid. I recall this clearly as a jarring reversal. And I'm generally sympathetic to BLM.

1/9/2025, 5:59:41 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

That wasn't understood *at the time* though. The guidance turned right around about public gatherings, explicitly because of the "importance of the demonstrations".

1/9/2025, 5:53:46 PM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

hat does not go to the point of ethnic cleansing from Gaza. And I think for myself thankyouverymuch. "They" aren't lying to me.

1/9/2025, 5:40:58 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

So lets just all make up words and shift meanings and stop communicating?

1/9/2025, 5:18:09 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

So you'd like to say that the IDF is undercounting, when they'd be doing so against their interests. When they're even denying famine. Because it suits your point. Such generous credulity.

1/9/2025, 4:24:21 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

At the least, Hamas government members are counted as if they're military. Finally- Palestinian losses are so huge, it's just plain ghoulish to quibble over this.

1/9/2025, 4:18:45 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

So you're saying that the IDF doesn't have good intelligence (let alone the issue of IDF credibility). Since *Israeli hostages* have been mistaken for Hamas and killed, plus these assumptions the numbers are large, I suspect (not a claim) that all military aged males are taken as Hamas.

1/9/2025, 4:16:59 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

1/9/2025, 3:14:43 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Amnesty was founded to put international pressure on those nations holding political prisoners. One it became another human rights organization,it lost its effectiveness.

1/9/2025, 3:14:12 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) reposted

China didn’t take it. America gave it away.

1/9/2025, 2:31:24 PM | 106 23 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Tom Nichols (@radiofreetom.bsky.social) reposted

"So that you will learn by experience that I do not tolerate interference, I will now detonate the nuclear warheads in the two missile silos. Let this action be a lesson that need not be repeated." AI has always haunted our nightmares. www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

1/9/2025, 1:47:34 PM | 239 46 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I knew members of Amnesty, and considered joining. Problem was - they got into issues that aren't their core mission (Israel-Palestine, immigration).

1/9/2025, 2:07:44 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

And let's go back to 1948 - there is a history to this.

1/9/2025, 2:03:09 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Actions taken (and not taken, allowing settlers to do their work) in the West Bank go to showing intent as well.

1/9/2025, 2:01:48 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

"Ethnic cleansing", BTW, does not require that *all* members of an ethnic group be displaced. It's the crime of a nation or group with more power, deciding they want some land and depopulating that land would suit their interests.

1/9/2025, 2:00:52 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

In the West Bank they are being displaced. And in Israel proper they are also Palestinians.

1/9/2025, 1:57:57 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

All this goes to ethnic cleansing vs genocide. Including your reference to "OTHER countries".

1/9/2025, 1:56:21 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Palestinians are also being displaced in the West Bank. They're letting a different process happen there, but that is what it is. In Gaza, the intent to displace Palestinians has become explicit.

1/9/2025, 1:54:53 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Yep! And we end up not actually talking about the situation's horrors.

1/9/2025, 1:53:02 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

"Terrorist"

1/9/2025, 1:51:17 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

War crime. Which we aren't talking about very well because every damn convo that touches this devolves into "is it genocide".

1/9/2025, 1:49:38 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Source? Because I strongly suspect that any military-aged male in Hamas is counted as Hamas.

1/9/2025, 1:48:24 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

*ETHNIC

1/9/2025, 1:45:00 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

But noooo - you think your pro-Palestinian bona fides are cemented if you run around saying GENOCIDE GENOCIDE GENOCIDE and you can't even talk about what is happening. I searched your posts for "West Bank" - nada.

1/9/2025, 1:44:38 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

No he's making a point. Gaza is a war zone. Palestinians elsewhere, aren't subject to the actions taken in Gaza. On the other hand, if you *really cared* about Palestinians, you'd be talking about actions in the West Bank to displace Palestinians and understand that it's all about ETHIC CLEANSING.

1/9/2025, 1:42:15 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Read it again. Maybe think. If every willfully caused death is "evidence of genocide" - every war will involve genocide.

1/9/2025, 1:39:35 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

So here's an idea to quit arguing semantics: stop using words where they don't apply.

1/9/2025, 1:36:19 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Uh oh

1/9/2025, 1:33:55 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Ron Filipkowski (@ronfilipkowski.bsky.social) reposted

He obviously knows where he’s going.

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31/8/2025, 9:00:50 PM | 11548 1631 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Handsome

31/8/2025, 9:57:54 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I dunno. At best it's "we've destroyed your home and neighborhood hospitals schools and killed your relatives and here's s check". Erhic cleansing doesn't necessarily mean displacement to annihilation. Even the Trail of Tears wasn't that (though it was close).

31/8/2025, 7:09:42 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Maybe not about hate, maybe it's about recognizing and refusing to participate in quixotic "pay attention to us else we won't vote for you we'll let the worse guy win" campaigns.

31/8/2025, 7:01:37 PM | 7 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

It's catastrophic. Palestinians aren't going to simply dissappear into other countries, as their pursuers hope.

31/8/2025, 5:41:26 PM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Military members stateside too, many of whom maintain a single permanent address as they frequently move. For my parents, it was Pima county Arizona.

31/8/2025, 5:10:51 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Absentee ballots used to be the GOP's favorites. From military and older voters.

31/8/2025, 5:09:15 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) reposted

Exactly. Whatever the problem is - and every state, red and blue, has plenty of problems - dictatorship is not the answer.

31/8/2025, 3:39:27 PM | 99 17 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I was in Jr. high, and I was glued to TOS.

31/8/2025, 2:33:16 PM | 5 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

"you're soaking in it"

31/8/2025, 2:32:15 PM | 5 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Dan Nexon (@dhnexon.bsky.social) reposted reply parent

There are things we can influence, of course. Most of what we can do right now is prepare, especially for participation in collective mobilization against the regime β€” and here I mean everything from becoming involved in local politics and civil society to learning the tactics of mass protest.

30/8/2025, 8:10:01 PM | 414 63 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Dan Nexon (@dhnexon.bsky.social) reposted reply parent

We have a decades of scholarship on how pro-democracy forces win in competitive authoritarian systems: they form a united opposition that brings together people with otherwise profound political disagreements.

30/8/2025, 8:10:01 PM | 1320 318 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

🀣 great choice for the soundtrack

31/8/2025, 2:03:35 AM | 3 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Trump says it's about drug cartels. www.nytimes.com/2025/08/22/u...

31/8/2025, 2:01:51 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

And our media isn't covering this. At all.

31/8/2025, 1:29:57 AM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Uh - if that's a real warrant he has to show it. Those ICE guys were bs.

31/8/2025, 12:45:31 AM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

He definitely should have doubled down on the carry guns in war thing, definitely a soldier can meaningfully carry a gun during war but outside a war zone. Guard duty for instance.

30/8/2025, 11:15:16 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Congrats!

30/8/2025, 11:03:50 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Yeah - Walz is "tainted" by just having run and lost. It's maybe unfair but that's the way it is. Newsome comes off as a smooth Kennedyesque pol. I like what he does - he's great as CA governor but please lets not run the guy or gal that's done splashy resistance stuff.

30/8/2025, 10:21:05 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Watching him. He might be That Guy. (it's not Newsom)

30/8/2025, 9:07:52 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture reginaldedward3 (@reginaldedward3.bsky.social) reposted

As a veteran, I have a major hard spot with giving military honors to a seditionist that was killed while attacking the US Congress and the Constitution she once swore to protect and defend.

30/8/2025, 12:41:16 PM | 9 3 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture reginaldedward3 (@reginaldedward3.bsky.social) reposted reply parent

As an I sir. 23 years of military service to support an ideal of defending my country from people that attacks our Constitution. Babbit was a seditionist that died while attacking the US Congress that was carrying out their constitutionally mandated duty. She's not deserving of any military honors.

30/8/2025, 12:56:19 PM | 47 10 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Glad Dad didn't live to see this. I've been saying that on many occasions especially since Helsinki.

30/8/2025, 9:04:25 PM | 5 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

😁 Wordle 1,533 2/6 🟩🟨⬜🟩⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩

30/8/2025, 9:02:46 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Yep. The world took that second look at Trump and what he does, and notes it's not a passing anomaly, and is moving on without ut. America is on the decline.

30/8/2025, 9:00:48 PM | 0 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture reginaldedward3 (@reginaldedward3.bsky.social) reposted

What's concerning is that as Trump continues with plans to alienate the US from its friends and allies, Putin is working to cultivate more alliances. We're on the descent and Russia is on the rise

30/8/2025, 1:25:27 PM | 5 1 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Not completely πŸ™‹β€β™€οΈ

30/8/2025, 8:40:35 PM | 4 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I've seen it in my professional life, heck we've all seen it in the schoolyard. It's a visceral thing about people that we Dems ignore at our peril.

30/8/2025, 8:32:53 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

It's an attraction to a strong confident manner and style. People sense that if someone is confident he must be successful and Trump is apparently rich (yes I know his bankruptcies etc. but I'm talking impression he's a lot more successful than 99% of his voters)

30/8/2025, 8:32:14 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I think that after the debate, where are big difference in cognitive ability was also very apparent, it was a done deal.

30/8/2025, 5:24:59 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

I see what you're saying, but Trump isn't just louder. He's confident in his manner and speech. (Yes I realize that's partly because he confidently *lies*, but still confidence is what he projects). In our personal lives people see how elders age physically at different rates, too.

30/8/2025, 4:25:50 PM | 2 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

Some of them. Regarding the rest - you can hate on every Trump voter or you can win.

30/8/2025, 3:04:15 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) reposted

Question: Why did US put big tariffs on India despite major national interest in cultivating a strategic counterweight to China and trying to isolate Russia? Answer: Because the US president lied that he fixed India-Pakistan and India wouldn’t go along with the lie. (Seriously, that’s the answer)

30/8/2025, 1:23:33 PM | 10564 2848 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

.. and by "lucked out" I mean we *apparently* don't see what a lot of voters see when they look at a candidate. They want a LEADER that looks like one to them. While us Dems are picking over statements and policy positions, and some of us (you?) nibble over whether this or that checks a box.

30/8/2025, 2:19:27 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view

Profile picture Alagai πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡²πŸ‡ΊπŸ‡¦ (@alagai.bsky.social) reply parent

.. while Trump, while showing deficits due to age, speaks confidently and holds himself in a confident way. That says "leader" to a lot of people. And if we Dems don't see that, we're handicapped in winning the presidency back. We lucked out with Obama - he has charisma, many GOP voted for him...

30/8/2025, 2:17:32 PM | 1 0 | View on Bluesky | view