iiinova — where your digital self keeps evolving

Robert Reich @rbreich.bsky.social · 23/08/2025

During the Cold War, there was an intense and pervasive propaganda campaign against communism lasting from the 1940's to 1980's that seriously shifted public perception of what communism and socialism are in the US. That's why. Cold War propaganda shifted American culture on a generational scale.

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Reposted by I am Jo

Tyrants view educated citizens as their greatest enemy. Slaveholders stopped the enslaved from learning to read. Nazis burned books. Dictators censor media. That’s why Trump is attacking education, science, museums, and the arts – to prevent us from learning. It's Fascism 101.

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It was already gone. It was literally banned because of the national security threat it poses, but the Trump regime decided to not enforce the ban. Trump just thought people would be grateful he isn't enforcing the ban.

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It follows that modern "flat" design aesthetic that so many companies have now adopted. It looks more modern, which they will associate with other companies using that design aesthetic. . . .that or they just call everything they don't like "woke" without thought. Maybe a bit of both.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 09/06/2025

If they existed, we'd use them. There are a LOT less of them than they used to be. I remember they were all over the place 20 or 30 years ago. . .now they're very rare. The typical small town mom & pop joint now is a Mexican place, not some place serving "country" home-style food.

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Why do we call them "officers"? That implies a level of respect they aren't due. "Thugs", "Goons", "Lackeys" or "Minions" may be more suitable if "Stormtroopers" is a little too on-the-nose for describing them.

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Reposted by I am Jo

Jess Piper @piperformissouri.bsky.social · 23/02/2025

Do this. Say this. 👇🏻

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

Yeah, I'm seeing so much hate for Americans now, especially from Canadians. . .it's heartbreaking. So many of us voted against him, and are fighting against him the best we can now. . . .and they act like every last one of us is some goose-stepping monster with a swastika now.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 24/02/2025

He needs to keep it. . .so there's some place to deport him when this is all over and his US citizenship is revoked for lying on his application.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

It's unlikely they'll embrace that theory. They have even ruled to the opposite on Presidential power in recent years. SCOTUS has oft overruled insane MAGA legal theories, like ruling 2023's Moore v. Harper, they ruled against ISL theory that would have let red states ignore popular vote totals.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Republicans are pushing a "unitary executive" legal theory, wanting SCOTUS to rule that the POTUS has unlimited and absolute authority to hire, fire, promote or demote any Federal employees at any level, and in any position, and that any restrictions on that are unconstitutional.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 16/02/2025

Cause. These positions are meant to only be fired "for-cause", they have to be able to show misconduct, inefficiency, abandonment etc. to fire them. They aren't meant to be "at will" employees the President can fire at will, as it rather negates the point of these offices.

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It means we have more of a fight. They want us to give up. They want us to think it's hopeless. If they were as powerful as they claim, they wouldn't be trying to demoralize us so much.

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This. Reagan planted the seeds. Gingrich saw the seeds sprout. Bush Jr. watered them. . . .then Trump came along to harvest them l.

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When I hear "AI" and "Church" mentioned like that the only phrase I want to hear in response is: "Butlerian Jihad."

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If it does not, it is only because nobody ever thought we would need to actually say that. It is something so self-evident that no one would have thought the need to create a rule against it before now.

I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

They always say they want "small government" Small enough to slip in between your bedsheets, or into your uterus. . .and far too small to ever fight corruption, regulate businesses, or protect civil rights. . . .but still just big enough to be a crushing, oppressive police state.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 13/02/2025

People are angry enough about health insurance in the US that they cheered Luigi as a folk hero. The GOP response is to gut Medicaid and take insurance away from tens of millions? Interesting political move.

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Reposted by I am Jo

Pete Buttigieg @petebuttigieg.bsky.social · 10/02/2025

You are not powerless, and he is not unstoppable. Look at, and learn from, the funding freeze and how quickly he was forced to surrender.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

It's that they're trying to treat the Federal Government exactly like a tech startup they just bought and are remaking under new ownership. . . .the court orders blocking these things are what happens when that runs face-first into the ton of laws against all this.

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I am Jo @wingsandsword.bsky.social · 08/02/2025

There was literally one flying over the State Department this week. Some civil servant there, when raising the flag that morning, raised it upside down. It was eventually changed. . .but it did happen.

Probably more that he didn't sanitize his accounts beforehand. There was too much of a blatant trail to show the obvious racism.

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So far they've complied with explicit court orders, like the ones blocking Executive Orders. Outright ignoring a court order is a line they have yet to cross. They're pretending what they do is totally legal, ignoring court orders breaks that illusion.

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Best news I've heard all day, literally. Good to know the good fight is being fought.

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He's blatantly deep into dementia. Remember back the first time around, when his docs gave him a dementia test, he thought it was an IQ test and bragged how well he did on it. At this point he's basically being used as a puppet by various other parties to advance their agenda.

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I deleted mine a year ago. In a staff call in December, he said that Twitter revenues were stagnant and he gave a pretty dim picture of the status of the company. I think the mass exodus of it is really hurting them. Note he's trying to literally sue companies to force them to advertise with him.

I'm pretty damn sure Harris wouldn't be advocating for ethnic cleansing. . .so go play that dishonest "both sides are bad" card over on Twitter so the rest of the Musk/Trump cult can salivate over it.

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I'm reminded of his desperate failed attempt to buy control of Wikipedia recently. I'm pretty sure that was him trying to control what the world's most popular reference would say about him.

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Governor Tim Walz @governorwalz.mn.gov · 03/02/2025

Because secession is treason, and breaking apart the US is *exactly* what Vladimir Putin wants as revenge for the fall of the USSR. We're still fighting this through the system, and anyone talking about seceding should be treated the same way we treated Confederates.

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Reposted by I am Jo

Elon Musk is a terrible president.

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Reposted by I am Jo

Alejandro Alvarez @aletakesphotos.bsky.social · 04/02/2025

The Treasury Department right now. People are turning out against Musk and DOGE staging a takeover of the Treasury’s payment system. This crowd is big. The whole block is packed. “Lock him up,” everyone yells.

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Elon Musk is the Wish version of Tony Stark.

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We've been there for a while. Over the weekend, with his assault on the treasury, I was getting vibes of the "Captain's Orders" scene from Winter Soldier.

I see that as an improvement, without the cult of personality it'll be easier to start to fix the mess.

They're MAGA propaganda at this point. They were the ones saying Biden needed to drop out. They were publishing editorials saying DOGE would be great. This is just more propaganda.

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Actual people, or social media sockpuppets? These days I am skeptical how many people like that are real flesh & blood humans, and how many are trolls, whether paid, or simply doing it out of malice.

What has been is what will be, and what has been done is what will be done; there is nothing new under the sun. - Ecclesiastes 1:9 (NRSV) (In other words, here we go again. . .)

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Don't forget worrying about the Homicide Bombers! . . .that was one of the silliest renames of the "Freedom Fries" era.