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Alvin

@alvinthegray.bsky.social
12K followers 12K following 1.6K posts

A basic and aging veteran in the USA. Companion to a dog and a human. I like to be left alone, but I also like others to feel seen, heard, and respected. A comfortable room on Bluesky. As needed, speak the truths, give comfort, say no. Be better.

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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 12/08/2025
The more criminal and incompetent he looks, the more he turns law enforcement, the military, and the courts into arms of authoritarian rule. Resistance believes that the rules of the recent past still apply; rules easily pushed aside in this robust and determined change of tradition and culture.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 03/08/2025
Calling somebody "a low IQ individual" is the now-Presidential equivalent of the grade school retort, "I know you are, but what am I?" Remember when the USA used to be strong, confident, knew its friends from its enemies? www.youtube.com/watch?v=lA5U...
youtube.com
I know you are but what am I
YouTube video by Vulcaneer900
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
The markets are like a baby that never stops being hungry. If there's something to suckle on, they're content and engaged in suckling. There's no high intelligence or philosophical pondering in it. But when they suck and suck and realize they're getting almost nothing... www.npr.org/2025/07/27/n...
npr.org
Here's a puzzling question: Why are stocks at record highs despite looming tariffs?
President Trump's tariffs could hit the economy badly and lead to higher inflation. But Wall Street investors are reacting by sending stocks to record highs.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
This is not my USA. When you decide that a non-violent somebody doesn't belong in your house, you make it clear that they must leave. You don't beat them, drive them to the next county, chain them up in a basement. The USA has never been weaker, creating more enemies. www.npr.org/2025/07/27/n...
npr.org
'Hell on Earth': Venezuelans deported to El Salvador mega-prison tell of brutal abuse
Deported under a little-known wartime law, more than 130 Venezuelans were sent from the U.S. to a maximum-security prison in El Salvador. Now released, several tell NPR they endured beatings, sexual a...
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
Good history is a truth, not the truth. All good history has power. We know this because telling the history of the USA from the perspectives of Native, African, Asian, female and gay Americans is so powerful that those histories inspire violent opposition from many powerful European Americans.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 27/07/2025
A flower needn't care what bees visit it. A stag that wants privilege better present. Humans ought to care what they're saying to others in their image, whom they're attracting with what their appearance says to the world. It's OK not to care. As long as "I don't care" isn't code for "I give up."
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Curious to see what happens to my Bluesky account with this posting. South Park Studios posted the clip on YouTube with a disclaimer that it contains "synthetic media." OK to stop following me if this content offends you. I'd understand and not judge or complain. www.youtube.com/watch?v=Afet...
youtube.com
The PSA contains synthetic media | South Park
YouTube video by South Park Studios
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
I got dinged for following "more people than you can possibly read." Yeah, I do. I'm not a celebrity whose aloofness is part of his image. I'm a happy nobody from nowhere. I follow back because it's polite. Will I read and thoughtfully respond to everybody? Heck no. But that's not the point.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 25/07/2025
Is this an "Emperor's New Clothes" moment for Trump? Probably not. But in mocking and humiliating Trump, Parker and Stone cause mass horror and hilarity, doing more in 20 minutes than Congress, courts, corporations and journalists managed in seven months. www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio...
theguardian.com
‘We’re terribly sorry’: South Park creators respond with humour to White House anger over naked Donald Trump
Speaking at Comic-Con on Thursday, Trey Parker and Matt Stone revealed they spent days negotiating with producers to show the US president’s genitals
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
Dress as you wish, change your pronouns, be vegan, knock naughty bits with whoever consents to the knocking . . . Those have nothing to do with what matters and what I insist on: - Be productive, hold up your end. - Don't hurt others thinking that'll make you more powerful. - Know when to leave.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
When you habitually tell the truth, you can move and act with confidence. When you habitually lie, desperation inevitably sets your course, movements, and words. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Gabbard says declassified report 'exposes' Obama administration
Democrats say the White House is trying to distract from its decision not to publish files relating to Jeffrey Epstein.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
One of life's little joys: Showing somebody who's never seen it the 2014 "Prince" episode of "New Girl." Season 3, episode 14, currently on Hulu.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 24/07/2025
I respect that @talesofmoderation.bsky.social maintains a listing of those who (paraphrasing) follow farm, use hash tags, follow a lot, spam threads, etc. I'm added to that list. I think it's cherry-picking to add me. (Shrug) Anybody can make a list. Respect the freedom. Caring and agreeing? Nah.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
Or, agree that Japan will expand toward a more equitable trade in USA goods and services and cancel the trade-chilling tariff on both sides. But hey, I'm not a genius, stable or otherwise, so maybe I'm missing something. www.npr.org/2025/07/22/n...
npr.org
Trump announces trade deal with Japan, setting 'reciprocal' tariffs at 15%
The 15% tax on imported Japanese goods is a meaningful drop from the 25% rate that Trump, in a recent letter to Japanese Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba, said would be levied starting Aug. 1.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 23/07/2025
The public is unlikely to ever learn the criminal depth and breadth of Epstein's activities, financing, and favors network. Donald Trump either prominently features in the investigation file or he's hoarding that information to extort those who do feature in it. newrepublic.com/article/1982...
newrepublic.com
Trump’s Epstein Fiasco Takes Darker Turn as Dem Senator Drops New Bomb
Ron Wyden has some ideas for Pam Bondi to pursue—if, that is, she’s genuinely interested in getting to the bottom of the Epstein scandal.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
If MAGA doesn't tip the nation so far over edge that it fails as a state, there are good things that come from this collective nightmare. Inoculated against the contagion of authoritarian speech and actions, a more thoughtful, just, and involved society could emerge. www.msnbc.com/top-stories/...
msnbc.com
Stewart skewers CBS, Paramount over Colbert cancellation: 'Not the moment to give in'
"The Daily Show" host warned TV networks against giving in to "corporate fear" over President Donald Trump's "fragile and vengeful" demeanor.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 22/07/2025
If you're a practical science nerd, like me, you might enjoy the YouTube channel NightHawkInLight. Host Ben uses everyday items and easily followed explanations to turn everyday stuff into cool stuff with practical applications. #science #diy #NightHawkInLight www.youtube.com/channel/UCFt...
youtube.com
NightHawkInLight
Thanks for stopping by! My name is Ben. I turn boring things into awesome things. I've been creating and filming projects and science experiments since 2006 and have had the amazing privilege of seein...
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
As the Western Roman Empire weakened, the centers of power grew increasingly hardline about what and who is and is not truly Roman. Instead of facing reality and integrating people and cultures, it calcified into a dying rump. A common trait among failing civilizations. www.npr.org/2025/07/21/g...
npr.org
Trump has a welcome message for new citizens. It's different from past presidents
Trump released his video message to newly naturalized citizens. He welcomes them to the "national family," adding that they have a responsibility to "fiercely guard" and preserve American culture.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 21/07/2025
Today's earworm. Wings, "With A Little Luck" (1978). When all else is failing, hope faithfully remains. One of Rock/Pop's most hopeful tracks. Wishing all of us a little luck going forward. www.youtube.com/watch?v=FSTt...
youtube.com
With a little luck (Album extended version) - Wings
YouTube video by buckhysen
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
I think this could be the anthem of USA 2025. A strangely apt earworm for today from my unconscious self. Been hearing it in my head and humming it all morning. Hint: It's sung to MAGA and Trump is Chicken Little. www.youtube.com/watch?v=TuCG...
youtube.com
Aerosmith - Livin' On The Edge (Lyrics)
YouTube video by AerosmithSongz
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Minds that will try to eliminate a vaccine that saves millions, but has a slim chance of a negative side effect effect for a few... The same minds that will destroy food aid slightly beyond its use-by date with the defense that there's a slim chance it could give some starving people a tummy ache.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
A married couple contemplates a painting. One finds affirmation that light and dark exist within a continuum where meaning and purpose depend on the existence of both. The other fights tears, feeling the image surge their grief over the loss of a beloved one. Both experiences are correct. #art
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
This. The message in black and white. Can't vouch for the recommended accounts to check out, maybe follow. I didn't review it, but Dem Lady Always likes them. Follow your due diligence. Which I now realize may be me not exercising belief in what a female says. See how easily it happens?
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
I read posts that show surprise at some new MAGA development that further destroys the USA's social fabric and traditional values. Are people truly surprised at this point? Please try to get over the illusion that MAGA developments won't continue and grow ever more toxic, violent, and destructive.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Most have a hard time empathizing with masses, our brains don't easily do that. Empathy is mostly focused. Yet, open to the illusion-shattering realization that me/you/them--all one. Some cannot empathize at all. Others are objects with values relative only to what can be taken from them.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
Of all the anti-USA atrocities upon the USA by Trump and his enablers, one is the worst: They've turned the USA into a citizenry that hates its fellow citizens. We are a land that hates itself. It's not any more about news or memes or even being right. It's about seeing if we continue to exist.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
This is not my USA. Anybody who claims this USA as a "land of the free and home of the brave" is lying or else unfit to raise children, handle money, and drive a motor vehicle. Either way, they're unfit to be members of the land's highest legislative body. www.npr.org/2025/07/17/n...
npr.org
House nears vote on cuts to NPR, PBS and foreign aid programs
The Senate voted to approve the $9 billion rescission package early Thursday.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 18/07/2025
In 2016, when Trump bragged about being famous enough to grab women by the crotch, it was not, as he defended, locker room talk. Neither is rape or writing a raunchy birthday letter to man who trafficked minors for sex. No moral people should excuse such sexual criminality by its chief executive.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
I think one of the lessons here is to not piss off the Muppets. #thelincolnproject #PBS #muppets www.youtube.com/watch?v=LHhY...
youtube.com
Trump Not Like Us
YouTube video by The Lincoln Project
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 17/07/2025
If we treated people like people, not like Black people or Latino people or (fill in whatever useless label not based in citizenship or conduct as a person), the USA would become a much finer place. www.rollingstone.com/culture/cult...
rollingstone.com
ICE Raids Aren't Just a Latino Issue -- Black Communities Are Also at Risk
Tensions are mounting between Black and Hispanic communities amid the ICE raids and deportations, but solidarity is the only way to fight back.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Because it's no longer too early to think about knocking out the holiday gift buying. Hand made in the USA by nice people who are not me: www.etsy.com/shop/thewitc... #woodcarving #primitiveart
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Republican elite philosophy in a nutshell: "You and everybody who matters to you were always going to die anyway, stop being dramatic about it."
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
Males and masculine-leaning members of the species: How you present to the world is easy self expression without words. Explore, learn, enjoy, don't lose your mind or all of your cash over it. Also explore Speeed (note extra "e") on YouTube. Good stuff. #Speeed www.youtube.com/watch?v=_NXY...
youtube.com
Dress better without trying harder
YouTube video by Speeed
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
The vast majority of stupid people aren't born stupid, aren't fated to become a stupid. When a human fails to or is denied experiences, perspectives and stories outside of what they already know, they risk becoming stupid. Their meager solace is that they die never knowing how stupid they were.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
I miss boxy trucks that had regular cabs, locking hubs for four-wheel-drive, standard transmissions, vent windows (many of you won't know that one, see image), manual locks, and roll-down windows. My 16-year-old truck has some of those and I cling to it for dear life. There. I'm officially old.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 16/07/2025
With the USA lost in cartoonish, idiotic villainy, and given the truism that "nothing lasts forever" and that MAGA is accelerating the USA's decline, it's not unrealistic to start predicting China's imminent rise to global dominance. www.marketwatch.com/story/leadin...
marketwatch.com
Leading emerging markets strategist says the long American century is over. Place your bets on China, not the U.S.
‘When China walks into the room, the profit walks out,’ is Gave’s description of who will win AI battle
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 15/07/2025
Since I was a kid I've enjoyed horror movies. But when my nation became a horror show, new horror no longer brings catharsis. I find myself repeat-viewing the old, pre-Trump horror that I like. For new stuff, I may watch YouTube content that summarizes the plot, offers the highlights. It's enough.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
My mind keeps going to the regular people of Warsaw in 1938, Moscow in 1913, Tenochtitlan in 1518, Rome in 409... Millions of people who had no idea that their ways of life, senses of self and identity, all taken for granted and thought permanent, would soon be mutilated and wiped out.
"Warsaw in 1938" (2021)
by Piotr Rembielinski
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 14/07/2025
In all of recorded human history, virtually every human and human achievement that we learn about, explore and celebrate depended upon people's ability to meaningfully cultivate, harvest and obtain the fruits of a humble grain or grass. Fail in that, ruin and collapse surely follow.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
A great loss in all of this is the sense that we are the good guys. The USA has stumbled, behaved horribly at times, made many mistakes. But through all of it, we could hold on to our faith that the USA corrects itself, it wants to tend toward good while keeping all of its people safe. All gone.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 12/07/2025
This song released the year I turned 16. 1981 was Reagan freshly in the White House, Charles and Diana's wedding, "Raiders of the Lost Ark", Pac-Man, New Wave... The USA had issues. But it also felt inviting. Safe. Fun. Sorry, present 16-year-olds. www.youtube.com/watch?v=r3kQ...
youtube.com
The Go-Go's - Our Lips Are Sealed
YouTube video by TheGoGosVEVO
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 11/07/2025
In fact, the USA has always struggled with racism, sexism, class-based violence, and fascist-like tendencies. It's only since WW2 that the USA has truly tried to become a better people, include *all* of its people. When MAGA says "great," they mean reversal of those post-war gains and progress.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
"Attorney General James Uthmeier, who was instrumental in planning the detention center, described the system as a 'one stop shop for immigration enforcement.'" The term for a system of US military judging civil matters isn't "one stop shop." It's martial law. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/i...
miamiherald.com
Trump OKs using National Guard as immigration judges at Florida detention center
President Donald Trump said Tuesday he would approve Florida’s plan to expedite deportations by having qualified National Guard members work as immigration judges.
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Reposted by Alvin
George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
Representatives should not get to choose their voters. That’s ass backwards.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
MAGA is doing in months what 249 years of wars and political struggle were unable to do: pervert the ideals of liberty and justice for all, end the constitutional liberal democracy of the USA. Never faced and resolved, the USA's past now brings a nation to its knees. No foreign invader. Just us.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 10/07/2025
AI-generated images will be this generation's "dogs playing poker." Once pop-charming, soon hopelessly dated and suitable only for ironic display.
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
There's a photograph of me from the 1990s standing next to Martha Stewart. Based on that, I guess the Department of Justice should investigate me for insider trading. www.borowitzreport.com/p/doj-finds-...
borowitzreport.com
DOJ Finds Man in Photo with Epstein was Actually Biden
Trump said that the Epstein photo proved “Joe Biden’s crimes are even worse than Hunter’s.”
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Don't doubt Evangelical Christianity's position on killing people who don't meet the Bible's standards. Yes, Old Testament too/especially. It's not just gays who earn a Bible-approved murder. Read it some time. Trump won't, but he depends on Evangelical support. www.newsweek.com/church-preac...
newsweek.com
Church doubles down after preacher encouraged prayers for LGBTQ deaths
A preacher from the Sure Foundation Baptist Church in Indianapolis said LGBTQ+ people "deserve the death penalty."
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Bless TNR for trying, but a "surprise" 10% tax on betting losses (even though the language for it was right there, but not read) is the least compelling reason for GOP Senators to regret vote for Trump's lengthy and damaging bill, now signed into law by Donald Trump. newrepublic.com/post/197733/...
newrepublic.com
GOP Senators Stunned by Terrible Rule in Budget Bill They Voted For
Did these senators actually read the bill?
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Alvin @alvinthegray.bsky.social · 09/07/2025
Trump routinely demonizes and threatens his enemies. He's built an administration that echoes and supports his will. Deportations, imprisonments, suffering, deaths, military patrolling US cities... Musk's Grok is a minnow by comparison. But it all makes hatred and violence normal, OK, expected.
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