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PJRO

@pjro.bsky.social
1.7K followers 115 following 768 posts

Retired national security analyst. Pro-democracy at home and abroad (think FDR).

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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 3h
Seriously, I read it differently. TRYING to follow his train of thought, he was saying higher gas prices are a small price to pay to achieve his wartime goal, as would be the destruction of Los Angeles or San Diego. To which the Nebraska crowd cheered. (After all, he didn't say Omaha or Lincoln.)
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 8h
Great find. I suspect you can find similar stories in earlier decades.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 11h
In addition to White nationalism, it's a reference to the transgender issue. Demographics include population breakdowns by race and by sex.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 16h
His pronouns often refer to a different subject than one would assume, because his train of thought is disjointed. Consequently, his statements become incomprehensible.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 07/10/2026
Highly debatable fact check. The context was that Trump was talking about the need to make small sacrifices for this war. And, for his Nebraska GOP audience, he didn't say "let them take out Omaha and Lincoln" because that wouldn't have prompted applause and cheers.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Hegseth: "Send me to fight the Redcoats, send me to fight the communists, send me to fight the Islamists. Send me." Notably absent: Confederates and Nazis. Wrong enemies or too many US casualties for him?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Unfortunately, oversight and accountability translate as "meaningless hearings and scolding." Run on corruption--stopping and redressing the theft.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 26/09/2026
This assessment is more realistic than the popularized story: russianforces.org/blog/2022/10...
russianforces.org
Did Stanislav Petrov save the world in 1983? It's complicated - Blog - Russian strategic nuclear forces
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Should have done something about Trump's use of taxpayer money to produce propaganda a long time ago.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 25/09/2026
Trump has routinely used taxpayer money to spread propaganda since he was first elected. Congress has done nothing. The Biden administration did nothing. As in most things, Trump's defiance of laws only gets worse over time as nobody faces consequences.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
WHO is buying the potash from Belarus? Certainly not US taxpayers--Congress hasn't authorized such an expenditure.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 21/09/2026
Nobody seems to care about laws anymore: “No part of any appropriation . . . shall be used for publicity or propaganda purposes within the United States not heretofore authorized by the Congress.” These prohibitions have been repeated in appropriation bills since the late-1940s.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 19/09/2026
Seems like the JFK/LBJ income tax top marginal rate was about optimal. For more than one reason, too. We should add brackets to reach 70 percent for multi-million dollar incomes. Of course, we also should look again at taxes on corporations, large estates, etc.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 13/09/2026
The average for an assistant professor is about half that amount.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 10/09/2026
Somehow I don't get it. A politician isn't breaking the law by promising a chicken in every pot. Or by promising Medicare For All, or whatever, "if we win." Yet lots of folks are all excited/distressed by what Trump said.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I believe the union numbers are 21% in 1979, and 6% today, for the private sector. (The reduction in the public sector is much smaller.)
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
I think Dean Baker ranks with Paul Krugman as essential reading.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 05/09/2026
Yes, he was able to make a lot of money as a unionized actor. I think he still receives a union pension from SAG-AFTRA.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 03/09/2026
A reporter needs to ask her what her influence has accomplished since, say, Trump's inauguration.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
He may have had help from half the SVR.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 02/09/2026
The Persian Gulf is called the Arabian Gulf by Trump's Arab friends in the region, but Trump probably doesn't know this.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
Also, the cost of both food and housing would fall if we simply stopped sending Social Security checks to people. (The savings would dwarf price hikes on coffins and urns.)
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 31/08/2026
The companies that demolished the East Wing are guilty of breaking the law. Like a hired assassin--and those who paid for and ordered the hit--are guilty. Jail them all, seize their assets to pay for restoring the Wing. Do NOT pay them to tear it down and then pay them again to rebuild it.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 26/08/2026
Also we had the world's best and most extensive basic research across all sciences.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 25/08/2026
It's the Democracy Party versus the Plutocracy Party.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
The "safe" route for Dems would be to choose a candidate who is straight, White, male, and "Christian." For 2028, I suspect a strong candidate and campaign can win if 1 of these 4 boxes is unchecked. But which unchecked box would pose the biggest handicap?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
Unfortunately, the United States of America is the mastodon, led into the tar pit by Trump and his minions. (Directions published by Moscow intelligence.)
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 21/08/2026
I had the same reaction. The political appointees who lead the Census Bureau paid a firm to produce bogus numbers that would support Trump's false claims about illegal voting. They used government money and issued the report's preliminary results as a Census Bureau publication. It's gonna get worse.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 19/08/2026
I believe it is here: www.census.gov/content/dam/...
census.gov
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
I think he took with him people who wait on him hand and foot for his personal needs. Nauta is his gofer. Scavino manages his social media. Harp monitors the internet, provides printouts, and posts on Truth Social. People with real jobs were more dispensable (but Hegseth provided the airplane.)
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 11/08/2026
Employers spend a half-trillion dollars per year on health insurance for employees. That money could go to (a) bigger profits, (b) increased wages for employees, (c) lowered prices, and/or (d) a new health insurance federal tax. The first three are uncertain--the last one should be on the table?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 07/08/2026
You are an expert, so I'll pose a question that I've long had. Why is the unemployment rate rounded to the closest 0.1 percent, rather than to the closest 0.01 percent? When people say the rate fell or rose by 0.1 percent, it's potentially quite misleading.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 05/08/2026
Also Ohio.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 03/08/2026
Destruction (of America) and enriching Trump and his family/friends are Trump's key objectives. Voters don't seem to appreciate or care about this, which is the problem for the Democratic Party.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 02/08/2026
It's almost as if Trump's objective is to damage the United States while he and his friends get rich.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 01/08/2026
Adam, if my calculator is working, the 1860 census shows that only about one in four American-born White individuals lived in states that joined the confederacy. The CSA represented a small minority of American-born White people.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 29/07/2026
Outstanding article! (Would have noted 1980s politicization in the brief history rundown.)
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 28/07/2026
Many times Trump has stopped himself from launching a war. A couple of times, he acted in the nick of time to stop his invasion of Greenland. Once he stopped himself from invading Canada. And there are the times that he stopped himself from attacking Cuba, among others.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
How many Trump appointees do NOT deserve impeachment? Or jail time?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
Trump listens to Moscow's intelligence community. They tell him to follow his instincts and throw everything he's got at Iran--everything and more--lest he look weak.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 25/07/2026
AND it was illegal, in defiance of laws passed by Congress. Trump has been treating laws and the budget as "suggestions" to be followed or ignored as he wishes.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
When he said "what about Bill Gates" she should have replied "what about Elon Musk?"
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 24/07/2026
And Certificates of Deposit (CDs)?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 18/07/2026
He likes Argentina's leader, dislikes Spain's leader, and most importantly probably has heard that somebody named "Messi" is a superstar and winner and, therefore, potentially worth name-dropping.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Like the Mueller Report, huh?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
This has become a wealth transfer program in which consumers and small businesses paid tariffs that are now going to large corporations to fatten their profits.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
The Mueller Report provided plenty of evidence of Moscow's efforts to elect Trump in 2016, so it's no surprise that they tried again in 2020. Any doubts that they helped Trump in 2024, too?
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Superb article. Hit the nail on the head. Trump has been attacking the integrity of our elections for decades, but this was over the top. And a complete fail to those who don't belong to his cult. Actual evidence of a serious foreign effort to move an election can be found in the Mueller Report.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 17/07/2026
Moscow propaganda point for as long as I can remember. And nothing really new out of Trump's mouth.
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PJRO @pjro.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
Someday soon you won't be able to flush the toilet during a local blackout.
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