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Firelight

@firelight616.bsky.social
80 followers 48 following 307 posts

Felony Thoughtcrime

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Reposted by Firelight
Christopher Chiu-Tabet @cctabet.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
"Whatever comes from the top down is freedom; whatever comes from the bottom up is bullying and censorship."
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 09/09/2026
AI companies in summary.
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Toby Buckle @polphilpod.bsky.social · 24/08/2026
again: they mean it
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Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17/08/2026
To simplify a bit (a lot): the two active parts of the post-Trump good governance coalition are a democratic backsliding group and a state capacity group.
The democratic backsliding group are mostly concerned about the damage Trump has done to governmental norms and rules. They see Trump's abuses of power as an existential threat to American democracy. The naked corruption, the personal enrichment, the retributive use of public power. They broadly worry about the politicization of the civil service system, and attacks on civil society. Some worry about soaring inequality and its effects on our political system, including the risk of state capture by private interests.
The state capacity group is mostly concerned with what they see as the declining ability of US government to do big things. Their primary concern is that the administrative state is not fit for purpose, lagging in its ability to perform basic tasks that make the lives of Americans better. Over time, the American state has become too procedural. Some might see Trump as a disruptor who opens the door for a more successful program of state modernization.
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mtsw @mtsw.bsky.social · 15/08/2026
If the Dems do a Project 2029 type thing of shovel ready policy papers it's gonna be a lot of shit like "loan forgiveness for pell grant recipients who start business" when it should be "we asked 50 retired OEM dealer relations lawyers how to fuck over car dealers and here's what they said"
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CPN @oksettledown.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
Thank you for your attention to this matter!!
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No on I-645 @no645.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
We ran the polling: Washington soundly rejects I-645 by 19 points. Turns out "let this hedge fund guy skip his taxes" is not the electoral slam dunk he thought it'd be. no645.com
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jenny tightpants @jtp.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Reading a post that may or may not be a made-up story, and I wonder at what point we decided fiction was bullshit, and that if something didn't literally happen exactly as described, it can't speak to real experiences.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 04/08/2026
Really quite an excellent commentary on socially-sanctioned violence, aside from being a quality critique of the John Wick films.
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Mike Rothschild @rothschildmd.bsky.social · 30/07/2026
The overwhelming right wing sentiment is that COVID was an engineered bioweapon that was also harmless. Trump overreacted to it by shutting down the country, then engineered a drive to create a vaccine that was the real bioweapon that killed millions, and it's Joe Biden's fault.
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Mayor Zohran Kwame Mamdani @mayor.nyc.gov · 22/07/2026
Benjamin Netanyahu is a war criminal.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 14/07/2026
Good job using passive voice to avoid words like 'killed', 'murdered', or even 'executed', Miami Herald. ICE is a domestic terrorist gang which kills with impunity. That is the appropriate framing here.
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Brendel @brendelbored.bsky.social · 26/06/2026
The tyranny of Zohran Mamdani using tax dollars to provide services benefitting the people paying taxes chill me to the bone and demonstrate the rank selfishness of his political project, “we pay the taxes so we should get something out of it” Self-absorbed egotism, that’s all it is.
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Invest In Washington Now @investwanow.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
🛑 Decline to sign! Paid signature gatherers are collecting signatures now on IP-645 to repeal Washington’s new tax on the top 0.5%, the Millionaires Tax. Repealing this policy would hurt millions of Washington families. That's why we're asking you to decline to sign!
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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
USPS is now on the verge of dramatically limiting voting by mail. The postal service is proposing a rule to limit mail-in voting for the midterms, expanding federal control over voting without congressional approval. It's a big step in Trump's plan to take over elections.
democracydocket.com
Postal Service moving forward with Trump’s attack on mail voting
It signaled it plans to send ballots only to voters who are registered with the federal government.
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Jay Edidin @edidin.bsky.social · 29/05/2026
so, this is deeply, deeply horrifying thedreydossier.substack.com/p/i-found-a-...
thedreydossier.substack.com
I found a second vote.gov — and it's registered to the White House
There is a moment in every investigation where the thing you have been looking for finds you instead.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 28/05/2026
Pop culture is largely a reverse cargo cult that insists it’s wrong to consider nuance, complexity, or even the general notion of quality as virtues. To analyze is to hate, to criticize is to harm. Only disingenuous haters pushing an agenda do it. Passively accepting pablum is the only noble course.
bfi.uchicago.edu
The Reverse Cargo Cult: Why Authoritarian Governments Lie to Their People | Becker Friedman Institute
Authoritarian regimes invest heavily in propaganda. These lies serve not only to persuade citizens to support the acting regime, but also to shape how citizens interpret external political information...
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Ectoplasma Ring @plasmaring.bsky.social · 27/05/2026
so like lemme weigh in on this as someone who is more financially comfortable than many in my generational cohort: everything I have gained seems precarious and temporary because I know the people with real money will take it all from me the second they get an opportunity and no one will protect me.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 26/05/2026
If you’ve ever wondered what the Anti-Life Equation is, behold…
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Nathan Goldwag @goldwagnathan.bsky.social · 15/05/2026
This is an important lesson for universities and media outlets that nobody is going to learn; the affirmative action conservatives your institution hired have nothing but contempt for you, the second they take charge they will show you precisely none of the respect and deference they demand.
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Mike Barthel @mikebarthelauthor.com · 14/05/2026
Incredible
Post from r/audioengineering
Why there's a resonance at 15.5kHz in Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer?
It's around -70dB, so not audible I think.
As far as I know its a great mix and master, so I'm curious about why is it there, and why they leave it in there. Also if my eyes aren't deceiving me, it goes throughout the song. I know, its not a big deal at all, I'm just asking for if anyone has an idea about it
Answer: 
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EvilPowerMaster • 1d
There was likely a CRT TV on in the studio. It was recorded in England, so PAL, which means a flyback transformer operating at 15.625kHz.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 13/05/2026
I’m increasingly convinced no sociopolitical or economic theory is individually complete. To function properly, all human systems must operate under some degree of tension. This applies to the fundamental realities of human existence; gravity, air pressure, the quest for shelter, food, warmth.
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Liberal Currents @liberalcurrents.com · 11/05/2026
“Given our system of primaries and single-member districts we have a uniquely ‘pure’ form of two-partyism in the US. What would a multiparty U.S. House look like?” www.liberalcurrents.com/proportional...
liberalcurrents.com
Proportional Representation Would Fix That
We can change the structure of elections in America to make them more free, more democratic, and more fair to every voter. Here's how.
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Christopher Bird @mightygodking.com · 21/04/2026
we all know I have no life, so:
WHAT IF COLUMBO COULD REGENERATE LIKE THE DOCTOR?

1st Columbo: Groucho Marx
2nd Columbo: Danny Kaye
3rd Columbo: Sid Caesar
4th Columbo: Peter Falk (obviously he's the fourth, I mean come on, both in terms of iconicism and timing)
5th Columbo: Jamie Farr
6th Columbo: Judd Hirsch
7th Columbo: Howard Hesseman
8th Columbo: Mandy Patinkin
9th Columbo: Eugene Levy
10th Columbo: Mark Ruffalo
11th Columbo: Adam Brody
12th Columbo: Jason Alexander
13th Columbo: Natasha Lyonne
14th Columbo: Mark Ruffalo again
15th Columbo: Omar Epps

NOT PICTURED: Alan Arkin ("War Columbo"), Whoopi Goldberg ("Fugitive Columbo"), Laura Linney (possible 16th Columbo), Don Adams/Warren Christopher (played first and second Columbos, respectively, in "The Five Columbos" TV special)
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More Perfect Union @moreperfectunion.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
BREAKING: Maryland is about to become the first state in the nation to ban the use of surveillance data and dynamic pricing at grocery stores. The Maryland House has just passed the Protection from Predatory Pricing Act. Governor Wes Moore plans to sign the bill.
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Geoff Thew @mothersbasement.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
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Erica C. Barnett @ericacbarnett.bsky.social · 07/04/2026
Interesting ideas, though the idea of providing total property tax "relief" to house owners while all but low-income renters pay the full burden of property tax increases should be a nonstarter. Renters are the ones with truly out of control and unstably rising housing costs.
theurbanist.org
Op-Ed: Washington Is Caught in a Property Tax Trap. Here's the Way Out.
Here's the case for lifting Washington state's 1% lid on property tax levy hikes while at the same time implementing a homestead protection for primary residences and a renter's tax credit to shift th...
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 02/04/2026
The fastest and easiest way to end illegal immigration forever? Legalize it. Open the borders. Allow anyone who wants to come here to work, legally; receive legal pay, worker protections, & pay taxes; and go home when their job is done knowing they'll be welcome back later. It's just that easy.
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Brian Merchant @bcmerchant.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
The left is not "missing out" on AI. It's winning the argument. Americans worry about AI and dislike tech CEOs. They're mobilizing against data centers. They support regulation, even refusal. Calls for the left to embrace AI are an effort to change the terms of the debate in Silicon Valley's favor.
bloodinthemachine.com
Actually, the left is winning the AI debate
But it does need to get organized.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
This is America. It doesn't have to be.
Stylized rendering of a photograph of Alex Pretti being shot by a masked federal agent, superimposed over an American flag.
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Sam Halpert @samhalpert.bsky.social · 24/01/2026
We don’t have a federal system, where state govt’s have separate sovereign powers, so that the governors of those states can plead with the President to call off his death squads. Extrajudicial killing is simply murder. Murder is a crime in Minnesota. The State of Minnesota can—MUST—address it.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 17/01/2026
Everyone keeps asking why no one is doing anything to stop all of this, and I think it’s because we’re trapped between the logical conclusion that the only way *to* stop it is extra-judicially—which no one wants—and the hope that providence will give us an exit if we just hold out a little longer.
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Ken Jennings @kenjennings.bsky.social · 07/01/2026
The “prosecute the former regime at every level” candidate has my vote in 2028.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
We should acknowledge the reality that the United States is, effectively, under occupation by a mad despot who uses violence and murder as tools of repression. ICE is simply one of the hands they do it with. Every governor in every state should be rising up with force against this criminal regime.
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Kat Abughazaleh @katmabu.bsky.social · 08/01/2026
You and your wife drop your 6-year-old off at school. You just moved here. You see ICE terrorizing your new neighbors. You film them, as is your legal right. Your wife complies with orders. She is then shot in the head. You still have to pick up your child later today. This could be you.
Distraught woman says ICE killed her wife in video after deadly Minneapolis shooting
"They killed my wife," the distraught woman says, adding, "They shot her in the head."
An ICE agent shot and killed a 37-year-old woman who was driving an SUV in Minneapolis on Wednesday. / Screenshot/@Breaking911"They killed my wife. I don't know what to do," the woman says through sobs in the footage, with a damaged SUV visible in the distance behind her. "We stopped to videotape, and they shot her in the head," the woman cries.
"We have a six-year-old at school," she says, almost unable to breathe, as a chaotic scene in which federal officers prevented at least one doctor who was on the scene from assisting the shot victim unfolds. "We're new here," the distraught woman says in despair.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 05/01/2026
If you didn't have conflicts over the Third Amendment on your 2026 bingo card, you missed out.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 04/01/2026
When your country starts conquering its neighbors, and a coalition of nations forms to invade you, overthrow your megalomaniacal leader, and put an end to your crimes against humanity, is there a special signal that you want to help the invaders? Maybe a form you can fill out? Asking for a friend.
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Adolfo Neto @adolfoneto.elixiremfoco.com · 30/12/2025
This Brazilian woman hates AI
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Jamie McKelvie @mckelvie.bsky.social · 16/12/2025
Quick question, did anything happen in 2008 that prompted the tightening of financial rules
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Matt Baume 🏳️‍🌈 @mattbaume.bsky.social · 15/12/2025
Here's a clip of Rob Reiner that brings me a lot of joy & how I'm happiest to remember him. It's an episode of Gomer Pyle from 1969 and Rob's the hippie in yellow, just 21 years old. Sitcoms weren't supposed to talk about the Vietnam War, so they found a way to sing about it instead.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 10/12/2025
Dark matter/energy are, likely, the epicycles of our era; to eventually be discarded. Whether this is the correct(er) answer I can't say, but if the universe were twice as old as we assume—as this suggests—it might resolve other problems we have with observations of the early universe by the JWST.
sciencedaily.com
A new equation may explain the Universe without dark matter
A new theory claims dark matter and dark energy don’t exist — they’re just side effects of the universe’s changing forces. By rethinking gravity and cosmic timelines, it could rewrite our understandin...
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
If the American system of government allows unilateral power over the law—as Trumpism insists it does—then at a certain point we must consider a wholly new system of government. One that clearly and firmly enshrines democratic values at its core.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 04/12/2025
I hope @governorferguson.bsky.social is listening, although I sincerely doubt it. Washington didn't vote for a Republican governor, so I'm not sure why Bob insists on acting like one. If Washington is to thrive we need to fix the broken tax code, not cut our throats.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 01/12/2025
A plurality of the British public, along with Macaulay Culkin, know what's up.
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Jo Wolff @jowolff.bsky.social · 23/11/2025
Twitter accounts are based in Russia. BlueSky accounts are based in homes with, frankly, too many books, plants, obsolete cables, and pieces of rustic pottery, that could do with a bit of a tidying up, to be honest.
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Jennifer N. Victor @jenvictor.bsky.social · 03/11/2025
In less than one year, Donald Trump’s misguided tariff policy has ceded US global economic dominance to China. @pkrugman.bsky.social with the receipts. open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
A graph with data from the International Monetary Fund showing percent of world gdp at purchasing parity over 45 years—US decline, China rise.
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Firelight @firelight616.bsky.social · 31/10/2025
It's CDOs. They're doing CDOs again. Except instead of houses (a thing someone will always need) it's data centers. Massive, absurd data centers so vast only a very few companies need them for one specific purpose, which itself has never earned a profit.
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chelsea bridge 🩸 @secretaboutbox.bsky.social · 05/09/2023
"experience" is just shorthand for "i fucked that up already"
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