iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

So it's helpful to remind yourself well in advance, when you're not facing these dynamics, that you usually (not always!) have an out -- at least for 15 minutes -- that manipulators hope you won't remember, and try to keep you from thinking of.

Part of what they try to suggest without literally saying it is that you are not allowed to deviate from the situation they are creating and its rules. And when people have power over you in various ways, or are practiced in abusive manipulation, it can seem like these rules are gospel

Of course those seeking to abuse and manipulate you won't want to allow this, but the games they play usually have to make some room for these sorts of needs to preempt whatever they're pressuring you into.

...you can often bypass the manipulative dynamics temporarily by claiming some form of random physical need -- bathroom, hangnail caught on your sock, etc. -- and leave to deal with it

One life lesson we should all teach our children 100 times: in situations where you feel interpersonal pressure to conform to others' demands or expectations...

Yael Schacher @yaelschacher.bsky.social · 09/10/2026

Reposted by Ben Wheeler

I am in Cap Haitien interviewing people deported from the United States. I have been doing this kind of work for almost a decade and it literally does not get more dire than this. People have lost everything they built in the U.S. and are terrified and have no place to go or way to live.

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I will say that I didn't catch that possible connotation of "doping", but you're right that that's one accepted meaning

Jack Kirby's "Glorious Godfrey" demagogue is an eerily good distillation of fascism and predictor of Trumpism "Power for only US to use"

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Agreed! And, in the context of already going to counseling, drug-assisted therapy can be a useful tool, as seemingly 100% of the people chiming in actually agree

Not trying to say he isn't awful! But *this* isn't why he's awful

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When we publicly group-denounce someone for suggesting an idea that sounds a bit weird, even if that person themselves is a jerk we're also showing all the young people tuning in that their weird ideas are shameful and will earn them ridicule

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

It's bizarre to me how ready to sneer and spit at someone we are. I'm no fan of Lucky, but it's clear in this clip he's talking about entirely voluntary drug-assisted therapy -- something progressives already champion for all sorts of other purposes

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The bravado blusterers get real mealy-mouthed real fast when asked about actual corruption and fraud by powerful people instead of like, a 22 year-old Chilean research biology intern

Gabe Ortíz @tusk81.bsky.social · 08/10/2026

Reposted by Ben Wheeler

“Many of us have been separated from our families,” reads the letter, which was signed by 45 detained immigrants, as dozens joined in to stage the hunger strike. “We have missed births, funerals, years of our lives while sitting behind fences without having committed any crime.” #AbuseofPowerWatch

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 07/10/2026

I'm reminded today of Anthony Fauci's essay on his relationship with activist/playwright Larry Kramer, a relationship that was both extraordinarily combative and extraordinarily loving www.nytimes.com/2023/07/04/o...

nytimes.com

Opinion | Anthony Fauci on Larry Kramer and Loving Difficult People (Published 2023)

He remembers his friend the AIDS activist Larry Kramer.

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David S. Bernstein @dbernstein.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

It was first reported a week or two ago, but it’s getting a little wider coverage today that Trump has not invited OSCE to observe the midterm elections, as has been the norm since 2002. My hunch is OSCE folks and others tried to stay quiet while negotiating to be let in, but are now giving that up.

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

One of the differences between a movement that is focused on internal congratulation vs. effective impact on the world is whether we can tell the truth when it's not what would make us most gleeful and activated

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

...any of these is acceptable, people who believe A&D or B&C get along great, but you CANNOT believe both A and C together, or B and D together It's an amazing feat of cognitive dissonance

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 06/10/2026

In MAGA world you can either believe Jan 6 was A) a violent outrage, or B) completely valid and peaceful; and you can either believe C) it was the proud work of Trump and MAGA people, or D) orchestrated by the Democrats and deep state as a false flag con... www.nytimes.com/2026/09/28/u...

nytimes.com

Proud Boys Convicted Over Jan. 6 Go From Prosecutions to Pardons to Premiere

The gala screening of the documentary “American Martyrs” was the latest effort by Trump supporters to rewrite the history of the Capitol attack.

Luke O'Neil @lukeoneil47.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

Reposted by Ben Wheeler

Hate it when you see what you think is a cool bird and you look it up later and it’s called like the Common Dumb Asshole. “Birders throughout history have hated its guts. It can’t even fly right.” I thought I saw an interesting guy.

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🔩All Hallow’s Joan🐈‍⬛ @screwedjoan.bsky.social · 04/10/2026

When you think about it, men having to face social and personal consequences for their actions is almost exactly like that time we mob murdered a bunch of women

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Dhruv Mehrotra @dmehro.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

NEW: DHS agents tracked people observing ICE arrests, photographed them, ran their plates, pulled personal information, and added them to a Palantir database, according to newly unsealed court filings. w/ @regret.bsky.social

wired.com

ICE Has Been Dumping Protester Photos Into a Palantir Database

DHS agents not only tracked and intimidated people observing ICE activity in Maine, but stored information about them in a Palantir-built database, newly unsealed court filings say.

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 03/10/2026

Skydance -- like that soaring playful airborne lad of legend, Icarus!!

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 02/10/2026

Also, like, these funds could not have been appropriated for Europe without Republican support!?

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An Average Joe @kokomojoe.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Sturgeon's Law - Ninety percent of everything is crap Theodore Sturgeon, writer of Shore Leave and Amok Time.

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Randall Munroe @xkcd.com · 01/10/2026

If I went to Switzerland and won a Swiss watch precision contest, I would literally never talk about anything else

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Amazing visualization of the many lighthouses of MA and RI, shown at the real speeds that they rotate, and the real length of their visible beams. Made with AI. mapped.earth/lighthouses/...

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Reposted by Ben Wheeler

Charlie Warzel @cwarzel.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

For a long time I've wanted a sense of how trump has or hasn't interacted with chatbots (we know he posts a lot of slop sure). And this TIME anecdote about Grok arguably leading Trump into war is just extremely bracing

Since returning to office, Trump has marveled at AI’s capabilities. He is increasingly in thrall to the tech executives courting him. In December 2025, Elon Musk returned to the Oval Office for a clandestine meeting. Trump spent hours asking Grok, Musk’s AI chatbot, questions about his presidency and legacy, according to an official present. At the time, Trump was ordering missile strikes against Venezuelan boats he alleged were smuggling drugs into the U.S. He asked Grok how Venezuelans would react if the U.S. captured Maduro. According to the official present, the chatbot responded that Maduro was a repressive and deeply unpopular dictator and that many Venezuelans would likely celebrate his downfall. After Trump ordered the mission to seize Maduro, the following month, celebrations broke out in the streets. Trump, according to officials, came away thinking Grok was ingenious.

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tim dewey @tjdfotographist.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

My god, everything this administration does is stupid.

"Today, the passport arrives in an envelope that can look like any other letter," Rubio said. "We wanted to turn receiving a passport into an experience that people will remember and keep."

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Kat Tenbarge @kattenbarge.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

Just a reminder that people don’t always realize they were raped in the immediate aftermath. It can take hours, days, months, and even years to realize you were raped, and it doesn’t make it any less true. There are many kinds of responses, including fawning and trying to appease your rapist

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 01/10/2026

This is a common pattern in so many fields -- people doing the same work just don't talk to each other. Years ago a friend was a middle school principal in Brooklyn, and admitted that he had never contacted the administration of the middle school literally four blocks away

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Reposted by Ben Wheeler

Karen Attiah @karenattiah.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

In an age when the Peter Thiels of the world are smiling and saying evil does good because it is competent, we are entering a time when we will need to be aggressively "pro-human." Or at the very least, Pro-Good. And we have to build power, unapologetically.

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Melissa Johnson, PhD @ladyhistorian.bsky.social · 28/09/2026

We should let people dream of something besides labor

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

I hadn't heard of Perfect Tides, it looks so great!

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 27/09/2026

My 9 games #My9Games my9games.net/en/share/d0c...

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Ben Wheeler @benjiwheeler.bsky.social · 24/09/2026

Haven't listened to this one, I need to actually see the movie!!!