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Reposted by Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman

elias isquith @eliasisquith.blog · 07/10/2026

it's the same joke as this one except people under 40 seem especially bad at realizing it

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Then how did we build it in the first place?

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Gavadon @gavadon.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I skipped high school to buy tickets for The Phantom Menace. The following day my Dad asked ," how was school?" I replied, " It was fine " He then threw this newspaper at me and asked , " how the fuck would you know?" He was so pleased with himself that I didn't actually get in trouble.

Newspaper where I am on the front page, in line for Star Wars tickets , having given the reporter my full government name

Closeup of the photo from the Newspaper where I am on the front page, in line for Star Wars tickets , having given the reporter my full government name .

As one pal put it, " a very John Conner look "

Closeup of the text for the photo that says

" Ticket wars

Left: The line of area residents waitinng for advanced ticket sales for the May 19 release of "Star Wars Episode One: The Phantom Menace" stretched outside the Grand Central Mall's Regal Cinemas onto the sidewalk outside. Above: Inside, Jordan Baker, Joe Peyton, Mat Lyons, Josh Lemley and Steve Roberts passed time by playing Star Wars Trivial Pursuit as they awaited the Lucas epic.

Photos by Tony Kemp

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Joel Wertheimer @wertwhile.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I have been seeing a lot of people not trusting the polls in the Midwest, which is totally fair given recent history. But if all you knew were Trump's national net approval, there would be absolutely nothing weird about any of the polling in any race right now. wertwhile.substack.com/p/on-polling...

wertwhile.substack.com

On Polling Error: Zoom Out

Donald Trump is in his second term overseeing high gas prices and well above target inflation, a foreign war nobody likes, and was elected despite his deep unpopularity to begin with.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

I don't remember the model numbers but at peak I had one that you jammed into a hose attachment to load from the nozzle and it could essentially fire full auto. And a pump one that was probably strong enough to shoot an eye out if it was aimed too close.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Would it have killed WaPo to explain how this hold works and why the admin can ignore it?

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 02/10/2026

I’ve written this up here. In addition to there not being a Covid-scale drop in tourism recently, you might also be wondering why visits from Mexico seem to double around 2004-05. The answer is not a sudden shift in Mexican preferences but rather our old friend, There Was A Change In The Measure.

kieranhealy.org

Trump Tourism Effects

In the past day or two on social media I kept seeing this graph from a Semafor story on the declining volume of international visitors to the United States. Semafor Graph. It seems to show, and was be...

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Kieran Healy @kjhealy.co · 01/10/2026

I keep seeing this Semafor graph that seems to show the Trump administration’s effect on international visits is comparable to the pandemic. My first thought was “that can’t be true” and indeed it is not. This is monthly data. We only have to Jun/Aug 2026. The lines are over-fitted to the months.

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Aaron Reichlin-Melnick @reichlinmelnick.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Last year not a single refugee fleeing religious persecution was admitted to the US.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

I have to keep saying this but it’s not just that the admin is only accepting white South Africans, but that the white South Africans plainly do not qualify as refugees under the law

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

This would turn into a very funny example of possession being nine-tenths of the law

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much ado about muffin @muffindoin.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

good example of the "legally present" vs. "lawful status" distinction. she's allowed to be here but is also deportable whenever ICE finds a country who will take her. US immigration law is fundamentally cruel

Traore is in the United States legally on a 2011 “withholding of removal” order, which grants recipients legal protection from deportation to a country where they face harm or torture. She has no criminal history.

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The Downballot @the-downballot.com · 01/10/2026

New graphics from AdImpact vividly illustrate something we've emphasized repeatedly: The GOP's massive spending advantage is *not* translating into a comparable *advertising* advantage. In #TXSen, e.g., the GOP has spent 66% of all ad money but aired just 54% of all ads adimpact.com/blogs/republ...

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 30/09/2026

The thing about having your immigration policy run by an actual psychopath is that you might not anticipate complications such as: immigrants having friends and families and people who care about them

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Rob Zacny @robzacny.bsky.social · 14/09/2026

Tragic news: our reality is just an AU where Anakin Skywalker becomes a classical pianist.

The cover of Justus Eichhorn’s album The Source depicting a black and white photo of a young man with long curly hair half-shadowed like he is balanced between light and darkness.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 29/09/2026

Ted Kennedy won his last two elections so handily that no one today knows what his opponents looked like

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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

seeing a lot of discussion about this and like: the reason the poster did a screenshot with no link is that if you actually search for the article you'd learn that this bill 1) has nothing to do with Zohran Mamdani 2) was introduced in committee back in May and didn't go anywhere

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I mean I've definitely read articles from people explaining why they've left the GOP

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

To be fair I do not think this article makes her look very good, nor do I think it tries very hard to

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Gabriel Malor @gabrielmalor.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

9th Cir., 2-1, holds that a failure of the Board of Immigration Appeals to consider record evidence (just straight-up ignored the evidence) is a reviewable legal error, not a factual error outside of the court's jurisdiction. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

An “obvious” factual error is still a factual error. See Patel, 596 U.S. at 334, 339. But failing to consider critical evidence is legal error. If we were to adopt the dissent’s position, the agency could completely abdicate its role in cases involving the jurisdictional bar, refuse to consider any evidence in the record, and simply conclude that a petitioner failed to submit evidence. In the dissent’s view, that would be an unreviewable “factual determination.” We reject this absurd result. In short, the BIA legally erred by failing to consider Perez-Garcia’s proof of payment of his voluntary departure bond.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Feel like this is just more data telling us that we should be fine this year but 2028 might be dicey. Unless the GOP advantage with low-propensity voters really is Trump-specific and its already too late for them...

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I was being half-serious. Maybe it’s a bad poll. OTOH, Scott has been able to veto bills ever since VT Dems lost their veto-proof majority in 2024. Perhaps there’s a difference between Harmless Figurehead Blue State Gov and Gov Who Can Actually Do GOP Policy

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

I knew someone would have the exact number

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 25/09/2026

Probably almost 100 of them came from the NH state legislature alone

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Okay now I’m worried about polling

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Ben McAdams (The Resurrection Arc) @purrtah.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Okay Obama needs to film an ad where he looks dead center at the camera that says “Susan Collins is a Republican and voted for Brett Kavanaugh. If you re-elect her John Thune, a Republican, stays majority Leader”

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

I remember the last time an administration gave the VP a series of thankless tasks that just made her look bad…

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

That’s right 8th Party System here we come

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 22/09/2026

The only two circuits to agree with the administrations insane and ahistorical position on mandatory ICE detention

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James Hell Brooks @kleinman.bsky.social · 21/09/2026

Taylor Lorenz is proof that Elon's ideological project at Twitter is working. Yeah, the lady who spends 18 hours a day online suddenly got more right wing after he took over, that was the point.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

Hang on, I can’t even find the AK-Gov matchup on the silver bulletin site. We sure this is real?

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 20/09/2026

… what is going on with Alaska Gov?

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Kevin @reginageorgebush.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

this illustrates the gap—Rs are badly outspending Ds everywhere but GA, I believe, but their ad advantages are modest at best because they pay awful rates for so much of it while every Dem except for (probably) Nixon, even post-primary AES, has the money to pay for enough TV to avoid getting lost

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

I personally hope the GOP goes all in on paid canvassing again

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

The part I'm not joking about is that TV ad space is reserved ahead of time, there's only so much of it, and at a certain point overfunded SuperPACs will direct money toward more wasteful endeavors. www.cnbc.com/2026/09/18/t...

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 19/09/2026

Those ad spots have been reserved already, otherwise they are going to massively expensive. I do hope low-propensity GOP voters don't tune in until the NFL playoffs though...

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

I think he will *probably* pardon them but on the other hand, counting on Donald Trump to repay a favor has a historically rocky track record

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Client order immediately released from ICE detention this morning because the government failed to respond to our habeas petition after requesting and receiving an extension to do so. I’ve heard of it happening but first time I’ve seen it in the wild.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 18/09/2026

Maybe I missed it but I haven't seen any mention on here of the news that the ICE agent Greg Abbott was protecting from extradition had to return to Minnesota anyway, where he was arrested and charged. www.cbsnews.com/minnesota/ne...

cbsnews.com

ICE agent accused of lying about north Minneapolis shooting makes first court appearance in Hennepin County

The Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension says it arrested Castro around 2:15 p.m. Wednesday in the area of Second Avenue South and Third Street in Minneapolis.

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 17/09/2026

EOIR: We are tossing the status docket into the paper shredder and no longer allowing continuances, even if the respondent is seeking collateral relief. DHS: Why are we getting so many asylum applications???

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Sam @samd.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

this sounds awful but that’s because she’s actually mocking Trump and Mr. Smoothgroin deceptively clipped it to own the libs

TAPPER: So, it sounds as though he's saying Democrats would allow Iran to have a nuclear weapon. He's also saying, of course, the war is going to end after the midterms. What's your
response?
PELOSI: Well, first of all, let's just say it's not about always responding to Donald Trump. I know that must attract advertisers, but it doesn't win the election. We have to talk about what we're going to do for the American people. Hakeem Jeffries is going to be the speaker. He is preparing how we win, how we protect the election and what we're going to do when we win.
Our country is at war. We always root for our country under any circumstance. So, let's get this done, Mr. President. You said it would take a few weeks. Clearly, you did not know what you were talking about. And you're sounding like Richard Nixon when you say you're going to end this right after the election. But okay for that.
The fact is so sad about this war because it was could've been so totally avoided. President Obama was masterful, virtuoso diplomatic accomplishment when he did the Iran nuclear agreement. And they had stopped -- we accomplished all of our goals. Except this one comes in, tears that up and now says he's going to stop the development of nuclear weapon in Iran, which he hasn't.
So, it's really sad, but our troops are in harm's way, and this is not a small potatoes thing as that person you had on the screen might refer to it. Small potatoes is not how we describe our men and women in uniform risking their lives.
So, this Iran war is taking a toll on the nation because people don't like us going to war in the first place. Second of all, it's increasing the cost of price at the pump, gasoline for farmers, increasing the price of food and groceries. So, this has an impact right at the kitchen table of the American people, in addition to not protecting the security of our country.

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❀°。Der Siebenschläfer *.ﾟ✿ ⋆ @sababausa.bsky.social · 15/09/2026

If Alito’s jurisdictional argument (“Congress didn’t authorize anyone to sue USPS for unlawful acts, so if we have a judicially-created cause of action the plaintiff‘s case has to be a 100% lock“) were accurate, Dems could direct USPS not to deliver mail-in ballots in rural areas

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Sam Vimes' Boot Salesman @bam5.bsky.social · 13/09/2026