Valastrius

US senators will say anything. "Standing up to donald trump gave him more power." No it didn't. That isn't true.

Maybe burning bridges to the world to build White-kanda isn’t such a good idea?

tankies running defense for China is literally just that one old joke about the Soviet Union over and over again

the key difference between America and China that i'm pointing out here is that you're posting a publicly available press release from the *American* Civil Liberties Union criticizing the United States' incarceration policies

I sell this all day to skeptical conservatives who think USAID is staffed by crunchy, Birkenstocked do-gooders - the Democratic Party can sell it to the American public like Kennedy did.

So fuck Elon is what I guess I'm saying, and fuck spineless, soulless energy vampires like Marco Rubio.

A better world is possible and we should demand our leaders rebuild these critical national capabilities for the future. So squishing out when folks start calling for USAID to be restored.

And its staff were certified badasses. They knew how to work with US and foreign militaries, they knew how to tread lightly to overcome sensitivities, they were as comfortable (often more) operating in austere, dangerous places than mil. Those capabilities would've been leveraged in big boy war too.

Even the foreign disaster assistance process hasn't been put back together yet since all those dipshits stood by and let Elon gleefully nuke the Bureau for Humanitarian Assistance. All those experts, all the contacts with US domestic capabilities, the civ-mil cord system that helped DoD get involved

Of course the admin did eventually have a minor panic attack bc we had kneecapped our foreign disaster response and critical program capabilities, and tried to retain some parts at State, but we're nowhere near the capabilities pre-USAID. Civ-mil coordination specialists at the CCMDs are all gone.

I remember the first few security cooperation and humanitarian response courses we did after the destruction of USAID, where military students would ask if this would be an "opportunity" for DoD to expand onto USAID's portfolio. Some students were absolutely convinced that was the plan. It wasn't.

DoD was generally only requested to support at most 10% of validated foreign disaster response missions annually, just to give a sense of how massive the USAID effort was. It leveraged domestic and int'l partners, brought private industry in, provided technical expertise to impacted countries.

In my narcissist era. I'm narcissistic woundmaxxing. I'm going pathological need for admiration mode. I'm DARVO-pilled.

End of The Line: how Saudi Arabia’s Neom dream unravelled Mohammed bin Salman’s utopian city was undone by the laws of physics and finance

Turns out that people who bone-saw journalists might not also be good business managers

ig.ft.com/saudi-neom-l...

The U.S. Supreme Court was given the wrong numbers. The “unwind” in the event of a negative decision on Tariffs, would be, including investments made, to be made, and return of funds, in excess of 3 Trillion Dollars. It would not be possible to ever make up for that kind of a “drubbing.” That would truly become an insurmountable National Security Event, and devastating to the future of our Country - Possibly non-sustainable!

Oh, so he totally stole the money

"The Trump White House, for it's part, is cackling—sometimes literally—about the turn of events. Two White House officials, and two other Trump advisers, could barely contain their giddiness when asked by Zeteo about the latest instance of the Democratic elite capitulating to Trump. Multiple Trump aides and allies kept gratuitously using terms such as "losers" and "pussies" as they revelled in the relief from a shutdown that even President Trump acknowledged was getting Republicans "killed" politically.

scenes from a victory lap

zeteo.com/p/senate-dem...

In the struggle against authoritarianism, the pro-democracy opposition needs ruthlessly strategic leadership.

Chuck Schumer ain’t it. It’s time for him to resign. We don’t have time for more Schumer Surrenders.

For anyone who was sleeping, major political news last night: a judge chose a new map for Utah that will deliver a seat to Democrats.

Major point in Dems’ favor that effectively neuters the GOP’s move in Missouri, much like California countered Texas.

this is an extremely common and well understood surgery, obviously this was not a real number, but what the fuck

healthcare costs are an absurd kabuki theater between insurance and providers and no human being can possibly be expected to manage this shit

anyone who says otherwise is lying to you

so, today I got the surgery center where I got my deviated septum fixed to send me an itemized bill so I could submit to my FSA for reimbursement

my out of pocket cost: $473

what my insurance paid: $4258

what they tried to charge my insurance (not a misprint): $173692

So cute!!! I love it!!
Thank you for drawing Uni 😭

Did everyone remember to bring their consumables?

Potions, food, weapon oils, patriot missiles.

I'm looking at you, air defense battery covering the Black Sea.

The only person in my World of Warcraft guild who actually knows what he's doing is a Ukrainian dude whom Russian attacks have limited to a few hours of power a day, and who frequently has to leave abruptly due to air alerts.

Sometimes I think Putin doesn't even care about our raid progression.

there were a lot of 'eccentric' British figures who were just full blown Nazis (*cough* Alan Clark *cough*)

always good to be reminded that the kook/fascist crossover predates the MAGA yoga moms.

Inshallah, the next Democratic administration will find that the 14th Amendment exists, that Pence was technically the 46th President, Biden the 47th, and Trump was not eligible to hold office again and all his acts are null and void. (Yes, I am a politics sicko with a heart full of hope.)

my new AI powered lamp is trained on millions of lamp interactions so it understands that 50% of chain pulls are to turn it on and the other 50% are to turn it off. and honestly, it's a little spooky how it knows exactly what i want almost half of the time

Tweet by Joyce Carol Oates: "wherever he goes, he wants to leave"--that's because when he gets there, he has brought his own self along; & whatever club he's invited to join has been devalued by the invitation. QT of @avidreader1000 Wherever he goes, he wants to leave: SA, Canada, ultimately the U.S. in the long run, based on his behavior. This also includes Earth. A continuous disavowal of your home is odd, to say the least. He seems to have no c...

“whatever club he’s invited to join has been devalued by the invitation”