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Real Robert

@roberts-rants.bsky.social
2K followers 591 following 12K posts

Husband, traveler, amateur cook and photographer. 🍊 = political post. Slava Ukraini! 🇺🇦 Will block accounts seeking $; many are likely fake. Lawyer, but posts aren’t legal advice. Posts are solely my opinion. All photos are mine except reposts.

PostsRepliesMedia
Reposted by Real Robert
John Morales @johnmoralestv.bsky.social · 1h
Weather forecasting for North American mid latitudes is worse today than just a couple of years ago. I see it, and, anecdotally, complaints about model guidance from colleagues in my profession are multiplying. Empirically, the American GFS model’s skill is back to 2019 levels 📉
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 3h
The Japanese government lodged a rare complaint against the U.S. on Sunday after an American Marine was arrested in relation to the death of a woman on the archipelago of Okinawa.
trib.al
Japan Protests After U.S. Marine Is Accused of Killing Woman in Okinawa
The matter threatened to revive tensions over the American military presence on the Japanese archipelago.
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Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 3h
Of note, one of this year's ballot measures is purportedly to fund necessary medical research, but a close examination reveals that it's basically a $4 billion taxpayer payout to a single sketchy nonprofit. That's why it's important to read the fine print.
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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 12h
The arguments are incoherent and bogus but the racist right turning its lens on South Asians for being too successful and visible is a real phenomenon and should be forcefully countered
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Hari Kunzru @harikunzru.bsky.social · 12h
Listening to the racist podcast about the “Indian Question” and wow mediocre 2026 white guys jealous of an Indian with a tech job is very much the new mediocre Central Valley white guys in 1941 jealous of Japanese with a thriving farm.
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Christopher Webb @cwebbonline.com · 9h
I guess it’s just a coincidence that Elon Musk comes out of the woodwork before every major election and gets handed a government position with major consequences for the American people. 🤔
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Kate from Kharkiv @kateinkharkiv.bsky.social · 6h
​Russia keeps terrorizing Ukraine, striking our cities in broad daylight and killing civilians daily. Strikes on a bridge like this are strikes on traffic, aiming to kill civilians and cause panic. They are monsters, and Ukraine needs air defense!
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The Bulwark @thebulwark.com · 03/10/2026
@crampell.bsky.social tears apart Trump’s promise of $5,000 checks if Republicans win the midterms, noting they already control the White House and Congress and could send the money now if they wanted to.
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
MAGA coerces reluctant officeholders to vote with Trump partly by harassing them and reminding them that worse might be in store if they don't vote the right way. This is an example by Trump.
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Interesting short thread about Damascus. It sounds like life is better there, since Assad's fall.
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Eric Lipton NYT @ericlipton.nytimes.com · 03/10/2026
JUST POSTED: Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff have pushed a multibillion oil deal with Russia as part of peace talks that will bring profits to their family business partners. A new front for Trump-era conflicts of interest. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies (Gift Article)
President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of inter...
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Mandy Daniels @mandydaniels.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
#Waning #Gibbous #Moon Date: 2026 10 03 Time: 00:26:40 UTC Altitude: 29° 11' Distance: 366 544 km Phase: 56% Nikon Z8 Skywatcher 200P IR/UV filter Exposure: f/5.9, 1/40s, ISO-64 Focal Length: 1200 mm #astronomy #astrophotography
The waning gibbous lying back in a black sky and looking very close to last quarter. Huge amounts of detail can be seen close to the terminator at this phase, with many prominent craters clearly visible along with other features such as rilles.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 03/10/2026
Negotiations to end the war in Ukraine "have expanded to include a multibillion-dollar oil deal that would benefit Middle Eastern business executives with ties to the two main U.S. negotiators, Steve Witkoff and Jared Kushner" reports @nytimes.com www.nytimes.com/2026/10/03/u...
nytimes.com
U.S.-Russia Talks on Ukraine Now Involve an Oil Deal Tied to Trump Allies (Gift Article)
President Vladimir V. Putin brought up a sale of Russian energy assets with President Trump’s envoys, Jared Kushner and Steve Witkoff, pushing a deal that raises new questions about conflicts of inter...
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
NSF withheld $1.4 billion that Congress had intended for research over the course of the past year www.nytimes.com/2026/10/02/u...
nytimes.com
National Science Foundation Diverted $1.4 Billion in Science Funds Mandated by Congress
The move, affecting about one-fifth of the National Science Foundation’s primary research budget, is the latest sign of how the White House is asserting more control over grants.
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Olga Nesterova @onestpress.onestnetwork.com · 03/10/2026
www.the-independent.com/news/world/a...
the-independent.com
Trump diverts Ukraine aid to authoritarian countries in Latin America
Trump has repeatedly acted to boost like-minded and authoritarian leaders across Latin America using funds allocated for the European defense against Putin
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Totally not a conflict of interest at all.
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 03/10/2026
Great job everyone.
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Tim Marchman @timmarchman.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
NEW: Partially unsealed court filings show that ICE has been putting photos of people observing their activities into a Palantir-built database as well as tracking and intimidating them. @regret.bsky.social and @dmehro.bsky.social have the details:
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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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Warsaw Pact asks Soviet Union to invade and quell democratic uprising.
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
The more you let AI agents do autonomously on your computer, the more they can do bad things if infected by malware. The more they can do, the more opportunities there are for malware to infect them. "The more features, the broader the attack surface."
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
Interesting article, mostly about how the Chilean opposition ousted General Pinochet in a free and fair election. The church registered people to vote, the opposition united rather than splitting the vote, their campaign ads were fun and entertaining, and they were visibly patriotic.
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 02/10/2026
For instance, we now have three active aircraft carriers assigned to the Middle East and none to the Pacific.
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Republican state government asks Republican President to make sure Republicans win election.
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Atticus Finch (of Georgia) @atticus59914029.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
She was born in Jacksonville, FL. And she’s a fellow Gator. UF political science degree. Same as me, in fact. JD should be ashamed of himself.
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Matt Burgess (WIRED) @mattburgess1.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
wired.com
Experience What It’s Like to Travel in the Occupied West Bank
Traverse barriers and checkpoints in the occupied West Bank—your choices reflect the reality of nearly 3.5 million Palestinians who live there.
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The New York Times @nytimes.com · 01/10/2026
A global sell-off in government bonds intensified on Thursday as the yield on 10-year U.S. Treasury notes reached its highest level since 2002, further driving up borrowing costs around the world.
nyti.ms
U.S. Bond Yields Hit Highest Level Since 2002
The factors pushing up yields, including the war in Iran and high government debt levels, are unlikely to dissipate soon.
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Catherine Rampell @crampell.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Freddie Mac reports that a 30-year fixed rate mortgage is now 7.28%, up from 7.03% last week and nearly a full percentage point higher than a year ago when it was 6.34%. www.freddiemac.com/pmms
freddiemac.com
Mortgage Rates
With mortgage rates on their current trajectory, the housing market continues to be supported by favorable economic conditions.
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Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.wsocial.eu · 01/10/2026
I talked to Jake Sullivan and Jon Finer about the radical transformation of US foreign policy, away from a process designed to help all Americans and towards the interests of a few people in the administration or close to the president youtu.be/vn4i_Jk_khc?...
youtu.be
Anne Applebaum on the Grifters and Ideologues Behind Trump’s Agenda
YouTube video by The Long Game Podcast
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Daryl Fairweather ⛅ @fairweatherphd.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Google searches for "who should I vote for" up 102% from 4 years ago. What happens when AI helps answer that question for uninformed voters?
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Peter Sagal @petersagal.bsky.social · 01/10/2026
Mr Feinberg below is one of the agents fired by Kash Patel. Seems like an important point.
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Jennifer Juniper @jenniferkaal.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Counterpoint: Bring me your fatties, your weirdos, your radicals yearning to breathe free. And I shall teach them to drive drones to defeat our enemies.
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Ann M. Lipton @annmlipton.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
baffling www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026...
theguardian.com
‘Don’t go to the US – not with Trump in charge’: the UK tourist with a valid visa detained by ICE for six weeks
Karen Newton was in America on the trip of a lifetime when she was shackled, transported and held for weeks on end. With tourism to the US under increasing strain, she says, ‘If it can happen to me, i...
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evy kwong @evystadium.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
whenever you feel like you’re too small to change anything know that citizens from small towns and cities that speak up against flock and axon cameras in their communities (and sometimes get arrested for it) are fighting and sometimes succeeding against this
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Eric Topol @erictopol.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Why do our cells age? It's not just wear and tear, accumulated damage. Loss of cell identity takes center stage. A new Nature paper and connection with prior work that substantially advances the science of aging. In the new Ground Truths. erictopol.substack.com/p/loss-of-ce...
erictopol.substack.com
Loss of Cell Identity Drives Human Aging
That’s What Biological (Epigenetic) Aging Clocks Are Measuring
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 30/09/2026
Tonight’s sunset in Northern California.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
WSJ Exclusive: The Trump admin used federal funds from the Department of Homeland Security to finance those controversial pro-Trump ads that started airing on TV. The taxpayer money used to fund the ads came from U.S. Customs and Border Protection.
wsj.com
Exclusive | Homeland Security Money Financed Pro-Trump Television Ads
White House calls the spots public-service ads, but critics argue using taxpayer money for campaign-like messaging may violate federal law.
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Mike Sowden @mikeachim.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
I know there is a hell of a lot going on right now. But not all of it is bad. Some is astonishingly good - like the results of this study from June. Cervical cancer is a terribly cruel thing. This might, at long last, be the beginning of the end of it. www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
BBC News headline "Young women now have 'close to zero' risk of cervical cancer death after HPV jab"
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Darth Putin @darthputinkgb.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
I can’t defeat Ukraine on battlefield. My strategy is: 1 Bomb hospitals, schools,power & stations to create refugees 2 Fund anti western & anti refugee parties in west 3 Humiliate western leaders who want appeasement 4 Repeat www.theguardian.com/world/2026/s...
theguardian.com
‘This is terrorism’: daytime Russian strike hits science academy in Kyiv
Jet-powered drones are increasingly targeting Ukraine’s capital, with medical centre also hit
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Ulrike Franke @rikefranke.eu · 29/09/2026
“Estonian authorities have confirmed that the 15 August arson attack against the Estonian defence company Milrem Robotics in Tallinn was an act of sabotage ordered by Russian security services.” www.theguardian.com/world/live/2...
theguardian.com
Estonia says arson attack on ‘consistent with other acts of sabotage carried out in Europe on behalf of Russia’ - Europe live
Foreign minister summons Russia’s chargé d’affaires over attack on Milrem Robotics as security agency says incident was ‘deliberate and pre-planned’
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Bill Grueskin @bgrueskin.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Trump billed the new plant as “the 8th wonder of the world.” Officials spent more than $1.2 billion for highways and water, sewer and electrical systems for Foxconn. The project was eventually scaled down to a “storage” facility with fewer than 1,200 jobs. www.nbcchicago.com/news/local/w...
nbcchicago.com
What happened to Foxconn? A look at the $1.2 billion spent and where it all went
In 2018, President Donald Trump came to southeast Wisconsin to proclaim the coming of “the eighth wonder of the world.” But what actually happened?
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Patrick De Haan @gasbuddyguy.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
the Fuel Clock shows Americans have paid $74.4 billion more on gasoline & $47.5 billion more on diesel since March 1 compared to a year ago. Total cost will hit $122 billion today. also updated the state map where you can find out how much more you're paying. link in my profile.
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George Conway ⚖️🇺🇸 @gtconway.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
Exactly.
State Rep. Angie Nixon: Folks. If we’re going to be a big tent, then damnit we need to be a big tent. We need all hands on deck right now. Trump isn’t going to willingly leave in 2028. We need to send more folks to DC with the political will and courage to stand up to his bullying.
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 29/09/2026
The important story is Trump stopping $14 billion in arms for Taiwan. Trump offering to sell arms to China is a distraction. Don’t be distracted.
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Kyle Griffin @kylegriffin1.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
The Trump White House official app is fraught with trackers. The White House app covertly collects excessive user data and shares it with third-party trackers while sidestepping federal security rules. For example, the app includes scripts to monitor a user's location several times per minute.
washingtonsun.com
White House Drove Users to Official App Fraught With Trackers
The White House app became the App Store’s most downloaded news app after the president barred three news outlets.
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Real Robert @roberts-rants.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
Concerning that the FBI deputy director overseeing election-related matters is quitting four weeks before a critical election. Bailey’s resignation takes effect October 2. Timing can’t be a coincidence. Did Bailey lose an internal battle over rigging elections?
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Josh Marshall @joshtpm.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is sort of the mostly unspoken factor. If this is true, and it seems to be at at least some level, then the data centers really aren’t infrastructure. They’re more like fuel. And then the economics I think just fall apart.
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Emily Gorcenski @emily.gorcen.ski · 28/09/2026
Here’s the most incredible story you’ll read today. A small plane with four people aboard crashes in a field. Another pilot witnesses it. That pilot happens to be flying a bunch of skydivers. They offer to jump to assist, are given permission. The skydivers happen to be EMTs. Everyone survives.
wisn.com
Skydivers alert emergency crews, assist after plane crashes near East Troy airport
Four people were aboard the single-engine plane when it went down in a cornfield near Carvers School Road in East Troy at about 1:30 p.m.
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Andy Kaczynski @kfile.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
A new CNN KFile investigation finds two past accounts from Texas GOP candidate Bo French calling for public executions of government officials, Obama, Adam Schiff, and more. Repeatedly asked Texas GOP, Paxton, Abbott campaigns if they stood by him and got no response. www.cnn.com/2026/09/28/p...
cnn.com
KFile: Texas GOP candidate Bo French has a history of calling for public executions | CNN Politics
Bo French, the Republican nominee for one of Texas’ most powerful statewide offices, is facing bipartisan criticism over a racist post about the crowd at a University of Texas football game.
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Bill Kristol @billkristolbulwark.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
"As Cardinal McElroy put it, we need to not avert our eyes but to 'recognize the evil that is being carried out in our name and fight it.' And we need to 'seek to convert our political representatives or replace them.' In five weeks, we can replace a lot of them." www.thebulwark.com/p/we-are-los...
thebulwark.com
‘We Are Losing Our Soul as a Nation’
What we saw in Springfield, Ohio.
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Patrick Chovanec @prchovanec.bsky.social · 28/09/2026
This is about as insane as it gets. apnews.com/article/trum...
apnews.com
Trump asked China's president if he wants to buy US arms, ambassador says
The U.S. ambassador to China says President Donald Trump asked Chinese President Xi Jinping if he wanted to buy weapons from the United States.
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