iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 6h

There was a time when a reasonable person could believe the 'clean Wehrmacht' myth, but that ended decades ago. Far from being immune to it, the Army was actually the source of the antisemitism that spread through Germany in the 1920s.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 04/10/2026

I'm sure I'm not the first person to come to this conclusion about fraternities, but I haven't seen anyone yet make the point so I'll do it. Fraternities are one of the gateways to elite status in the US, and they're the way they are for a reason. The sadomasochistic initiations and gang rapes /

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 03/10/2026

Living life on the edge this past week. Been using my phone without a case.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 18/09/2026

Constantly voting for 'the lesser evil' just gets you more lessers and more evil.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/09/2026

Human rights are not negotiable, and anyone who thinks they are is a god-damned fascist. Fight me. None of us are free until all of us are free.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 08/08/2026

There are weird conclusions and decisions people make that I can kind of understand, if not agree with. I can see a thought process, even if it's based on bad assumptions. Then there are the weird conclusions and decisions people make that leave me wondering, wtf? This is one of those. /

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 30/06/2026

Not long ago I was called racist for saying that the Supreme Court is important and Democrats should have been doing more to defend it. The Constitution means whatever the Supreme Court says it means. The Court has the power to overturn EVERYTHING.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 18/06/2026

Versailles? What a terrible time to know history.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 16/06/2026

Technically, the loser usually pays the winner, regardless of who was the actual aggressor. See WWI. Sometimes the winner pays, to 'purchase' land that was beaten out of the loser, to avoid the appearance of aggressive conquest. See the Mexican-American War. That's not what's happening here, though.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 02/06/2026

I have to admit, Donald Trump screaming, “What the fuck are you doing?” at Benjamin Netanyahu is probably the most relatable thing he's ever done.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 27/05/2026

Not looking forward to all the people telling me I can't comment on Texas politics because I fled the state after living there for 30 years.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 20/05/2026

Whenever people say something like, "Why don't X just do Y?" I answer--usually to myself, because I don't reply to EVERYTHING on the Internet--"Because they don't want to." And that's usually the answer to any policy question. Why don't they? They don't want to.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 14/05/2026

People should know more about the 1876 Presidential Election.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 14/05/2026

I would be interested in knowing how many fled right before the 2024 election, anticipating the outcome or reacting to measures already enacted in their state. I know the number is well above zero.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/05/2026

Man, toxic optimists. "If good things don't happen it's your fault, for not wishing hard enough. I genuinely believe this; it's not just an obvious way of diverting blame from the powerful to the powerless."

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 04/05/2026

The stupid Star Wars stuff cannot distract us from what the Fourth of May is really about. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JCS-...

youtube.com

Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young "Ohio"

YouTube video by HardRainProductions

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 03/05/2026

So, the cellphone company that keeps funding these far-right candidates ("Patriot Mobile") has to be some kind of money-laundering operation, right? There's no way this little, niche, MVNO has that kind of money from operations.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 02/05/2026

While we don't know much about the debates and processes on the segregationist side, we have extremely detailed knowledge of what was going on in the civil rights movement. Not just because so many in the movement wrote memoirs but also because of all the wire taps and FBI recordings.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 01/05/2026

One reason--not the only reason, but one of them--why the US is cooked is that Democrats spend a lot more time telling people NOT to support them than trying to get people to support them. After 40 years of this I'm about done.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 26/04/2026

Reading WAGING A GOOD WAR and making a lot of notes. The contrast with our current time and conditions is remarkable.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 17/04/2026

"That's right, you can't kill me, motherfuckers!"

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/04/2026

There are no No Kings protests scheduled for April 19th? This is not a serious organization.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 05/04/2026

Happy Zombie Jesus Day to all who celebrate. Careful; he's a bit bitey.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 02/04/2026

I don't understand why people lie about this. No one hates prologues and epilogues. The hate is all from authors, directed at the people who skip prologues and epilogues.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 30/03/2026

April 1st, when all of the people with no sense of humor make their best effort to show that to the world.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 29/03/2026

The only ethical way to access Potterstuff, or anything else from the Wicked Witch of YA, is to steal it.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 29/03/2026

It's amazing how some people will get up one day and decide to show the entire world how stupid they are.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 27/03/2026

Fun fact: The Roman Senate existed throughout the period of the Roman Empire, and in the west actually regained some authority after the fall of the western Empire.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 26/03/2026

He had a good last few months, but left us this morning. It still doesn't seem real. Farewell, mighty hunter.

Old gray cat sitting on a damp patio, looking up at the roof.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 22/03/2026

Normalizing fascism is what the news media is for. It's what they've done every day for more than 10 years now.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 28/02/2026

Not a new idea, BTW. "The primary and necessary object of all existence is to be happy, but happiness cannot be obtained individually; it is useless to expect isolated happiness; all must partake of it or the few will never enjoy it." -- Robert Owen, The Book of the New Moral World, 1836

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 26/02/2026

Even if there was no poem, and they weren't coming for anyone else, speaking up would be the right thing to do. None of us are free until all of us are free.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 26/02/2026

My assumption when I see someone dismissing any possibility that the Federal Government is even capable of influencing elections is that that person is a fascist operative trying to preclude opposition.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/02/2026

This is completely missing the point, which isn't that the books have only sold 37 copies because they're bad, but that she's LYING about how many books she's sold, and how much money she's made.

Critical Nostalgia‬ ‪@highway62.bsky.social‬ posts:
Seeing some "She only sold 37 books on Amazon!" and folks, ain't a one of my titles sold more than that when self-published.

I get it. She's a scammer and a slopper but if we're talking about sales as arbiters of a minimum of quality, you've already been suckered.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/02/2026

Practically every time I meet someone in a professional context I'm asked, "Do you go by, Bob, Rob, Robert?" And I tell them and they respect that. Every-damn-body understands the concept of preferred names. Some people just pretend not to in certain contexts.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/02/2026

What the Federal goon squads are doing now isn't anything new; it's just the current state of policing in the US, following the trend of the last 50 years. They're just open about it. That's why the Democrats won't do anything; anything that disrupts ICE would also disrupt local police.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 08/02/2026

This is just an ad for the slop hog's 'coaching' grift. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/08/b...

nytimes.com

The New Fabio Is Claude

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 24/01/2026

There's a lesson to be learned from the executions of Renee Good and Alex Pretti.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 24/01/2026

Unless something changes this is going to be the daily news every day before the year is out.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 23/01/2026

Reminder that ICE isn't doing anything that other cops don't do. That's why Democrats won't defund them. Letting ICE keep terrorizing people is the price they're willing to pay to let local cops keep terrorizing people.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 22/01/2026

I don't understand why people think the Nazis and Napoleon invaded Russia in the winter. ICE is way dumber than the Nazis, and so far below Napoleon that they can't even look up and see dumb from where they are.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 21/01/2026

Russia HAS talked about taking Alaska back. www.newsweek.com/what-putin-h...

newsweek.com

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 21/01/2026

This scheme worked because the Nazis were happy to get the Jews out of Germany. It was necessary because the US and UK didn't want them either. Most people now are unaware of the baseline level of anti-semitism in the west before 1945. This is, of course, deliberate.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 21/01/2026

To be clear, I'm not saying the studies aren't relevant, whatever some slop-hogs might believe. Just that they're not new news.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/01/2026

Horatius at the Bridge Then none was for a party; then all were for the state; Then the great man helped the poor, and the poor man loved the great. Then lands were fairly portioned; then spoils were fairly sold: The Romans were like brothers in the brave days of old.

But the Consul's brow was sad, and the Consul's speech was low,
And darkly looked he at the wall, and darkly at the foe.
"Their van will be upon us before the bridge goes down;
And if they once might win the bridge, what hope to save the town?"
Then out spoke brave Horatius, the Captain of the Gate:
"To every man upon this earth, death cometh soon or late;
And how can man die better than facing fearful odds,
For the ashes of his fathers, and the temples of his Gods,
"And for the tender mother who dandled him to rest,
And for the wife who nurses his baby at her breast,
And for the holy maidens who feed the eternal flame,
To save them from false Sextus, that wrought the deed of shame?
"Hew down the bridge, Sir Consul, with all the speed ye may!
I, with two more to help me, will hold the foe in play.
In yon strait path, a thousand may well be stopped by three:
Now, who will stand on either hand and keep the bridge with me?'
Then out spake Spurius Lartius; a Ramnian proud was he:
"Lo, I will stand at thy right hand and keep the bridge with thee."
And out spake strong Herminius; of Titian blood was he:
"I will abide on thy left side, and keep the bridge with thee."
"Horatius," quoth the Consul, "as thou sayest, so let it be."
And straight against that great array forth went the dauntless Three.
For Romans in Rome's quarrel spared neither land nor gold,
Nor son nor wife, nor limb nor life, in the brave days of old.
Then none was for a party; then all were for the state;
Then the great man helped the poor, and the poor man loved the great.
Then lands were fairly portioned; then spoils were fairly sold:
The Romans were like brothers in the brave days of old.
Now Roman is to Roman more hateful than a foe,
And the Tribunes beard the high, and the Fathers grind the low.
As we wax hot in faction, in battle we wax cold:
Wherefore men fight not as they fought in the brave days of old.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 15/01/2026

One of my nephews went to New Zealand last year to study. I told him, "Don't come back. I don't know how bad it's going to get here, but I know how bad it _could_ get." I have not seen anything to change my mind.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 10/01/2026

Yes, this is exactly how it works. The fascist state supports fascist elements in the target state and then, if necessary, 'intervenes' to 'maintain peace and order' and puts the local fascists in charge.

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 09/01/2026

It wasn't an accident, or poor judgement, or a failure of training. It was the point of the training.

"[...]he now understood why the army was organized as it was. It was indeed quite necessary. No rational form of organization would serve the purpose. He simply had not understood that the purpose was to enable men with machine guns to kill unarmed men and women easily and in great quantities when told to do so." - THE DISPOSSESSED, Ursula Le Guin

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Robert M Brown @rmbrown.mrbadexample.com · 09/01/2026

Toxic optimism prevents contingency planning and restricts opposition to specific pre-defined strategies based around existing power structures.

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