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Don

@thedon.bsky.social

Skier. Engineer. Cocktailist. @SinDexBand trombone player. He/him. @TheDon@Twitter @TheDon@macaw.social

172 Followers  |  175 Following  |  84 Posts  |  Joined: 27.04.2023  |  2.3561

Latest posts by thedon.bsky.social on Bluesky

Roman Helmet Guy
@romanhelmetguy • 9h
9 ..
The Roman Empire didn't fall because its population collapsed. The Western Roman Empire contained more than 15M people, and fell to a handful of Goths and Vandals. Rome fell because it outsourced its army to barbarian mercenaries. Rome died because no Roman wanted to die for it.
Elon Musk
@elonmusk • 15h
Replying to @romanhelmetguy
No foreign policy actions can save a civilization if its population keeps dropping.
Population collapse of Romans over time is what caused Rome to fall....
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Elon Musk
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Roman Helmet Guy &
@romanhelmetguy • 4h
Elon I'm underemployed reading primary sources from Roman history all day while you are running 5 companies, I'm sorry but I know more about Rome than you.
• 80
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Elon Musk & @elonmusk
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No, you don't
6:22 PM • Nov 16, 2025 • 40.7K Views
289
1394
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Roman Helmet Guy @romanhelmetguy • 9h 9 .. The Roman Empire didn't fall because its population collapsed. The Western Roman Empire contained more than 15M people, and fell to a handful of Goths and Vandals. Rome fell because it outsourced its army to barbarian mercenaries. Rome died because no Roman wanted to die for it. Elon Musk @elonmusk • 15h Replying to @romanhelmetguy No foreign policy actions can save a civilization if its population keeps dropping. Population collapse of Romans over time is what caused Rome to fall.... 224 L7 712 © 8.4K thl 285K Elon Musk Read more @elonmusk • 4h g ..• 110 セ46 © 635 Ill 37K 贝 Roman Helmet Guy & @romanhelmetguy • 4h Elon I'm underemployed reading primary sources from Roman history all day while you are running 5 companies, I'm sorry but I know more about Rome than you. • 80 t7 122 O 3.1K 1ht 46K 贝 Elon Musk & @elonmusk X Subscribe No, you don't 6:22 PM • Nov 16, 2025 • 40.7K Views 289 1394 O

Roman helmet guy is the Hiroo Onoda of the Roman Empire

17.11.2025 15:14 — 👍 973    🔁 98    💬 43    📌 71

😂

17.11.2025 22:58 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

@govpritzker.illinois.gov I want you to watch this video of me slammed to the ground- why are you allowing this to happen to people you know are on the right side of history. They tied my hands behind my back and when I asked them to be loosened because I was going numb they said, “STFU.”

15.11.2025 17:34 — 👍 4431    🔁 1701    💬 82    📌 76

Remember the recent middle-of-the-night apartment building raid where children were dragged outside naked & zip-tied in the street while black & Latino residents were _sorted by race_ and piled into separate vans while their apartments were ransacked & robbed? That raid? So it resulted in 0 arrests.

16.11.2025 17:38 — 👍 8979    🔁 3610    💬 17    📌 107

Marjorie Taylor Greene picking up on which way the wind is blowing is like watching a cat use the toilet. I always knew it was theoretically possible but it’s still unsettling to watch

16.11.2025 16:28 — 👍 1261    🔁 190    💬 16    📌 5

Pretty complete summary of how we got into this mess.

16.11.2025 14:27 — 👍 387    🔁 82    💬 5    📌 4
If they win, Democrats will have to use their newfound authority to rethink, even dismantle, agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They may need to walk back the Bush-era decision to consolidate those agencies and others under a single department, given the wild abuses perpetrated under this administration and its predecessors. It will need to give serious thought to major political and social reform, including D.C. statehood, a federal ban on partisan gerrymandering, a new voting rights act and federal protections for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, including the rights of gender and sexual minorities. Democrats will also need to embrace the legislature’s constitutional authority to structure the executive branch and the judiciary, up to and including Supreme Court reform.

If they win next year, Democrats will need to treat the next Congress not as a return to the status quo ante but as the beginning of a new era in which the principal task is to roll back the president’s effort to create and consolidate a personalist dictatorship. They’ll need to fortify the American political system against future attempts to play dictator and lay out a project of genuine democratic renewal. None of this is possible without a willingness to use power rather than just hold it. What we’ve seen this week is that there are still too many Democrats whose instinct is to retreat to normalcy rather than face the conflict at hand.

If they win, Democrats will have to use their newfound authority to rethink, even dismantle, agencies like U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and U.S. Customs and Border Protection. They may need to walk back the Bush-era decision to consolidate those agencies and others under a single department, given the wild abuses perpetrated under this administration and its predecessors. It will need to give serious thought to major political and social reform, including D.C. statehood, a federal ban on partisan gerrymandering, a new voting rights act and federal protections for reproductive rights and bodily autonomy, including the rights of gender and sexual minorities. Democrats will also need to embrace the legislature’s constitutional authority to structure the executive branch and the judiciary, up to and including Supreme Court reform. If they win next year, Democrats will need to treat the next Congress not as a return to the status quo ante but as the beginning of a new era in which the principal task is to roll back the president’s effort to create and consolidate a personalist dictatorship. They’ll need to fortify the American political system against future attempts to play dictator and lay out a project of genuine democratic renewal. None of this is possible without a willingness to use power rather than just hold it. What we’ve seen this week is that there are still too many Democrats whose instinct is to retreat to normalcy rather than face the conflict at hand.

Jamelle was cooking.

Gift link: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/o...

14.11.2025 12:50 — 👍 5480    🔁 1616    💬 152    📌 154

If you know age of consent on a state by state basis you need to be isolated from polite society forever

14.11.2025 23:39 — 👍 247    🔁 10    💬 7    📌 0
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If you need me, tap me on the shoulder. I’ll be happily working all day listening to this on a loop.

13.11.2025 13:49 — 👍 7396    🔁 2561    💬 109    📌 193

I just called the Center for American Progress and told them I will have nothing to do with their org until they get rid of Larry Summers. A VERY NICE person answered the phone - if you call, BE NICE TO WHOEVER ANSWERS THEY PERSONALLY HAVE NOTHING TO DO WITH THIS. (202) 682-1611

14.11.2025 19:26 — 👍 701    🔁 178    💬 1    📌 6
Preview
Republicans in ‘Bare-Knuckle Brawl’ to Stop Missourians From Voting on Gerrymander Read more here.

Missouri voters have the power to veto the state’s new GOP congressional gerrymander at the ballot box – but national Republicans are ramping up their efforts to stop them from having the final word. www.democracydocket.com/news-alerts/...

14.11.2025 21:15 — 👍 963    🔁 369    💬 29    📌 10

And we knew this. This wasn't speculation. We studied it, we had the talking points. We trained volunteers to explain this to people. It's not a surprise. Rich people don't flee places with good quality of life when we increase the quality of life. They might try to cheat us, but they don't leave.

14.11.2025 04:16 — 👍 5491    🔁 1993    💬 2    📌 56
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crazy

IG em_clarkson

14.11.2025 02:54 — 👍 10908    🔁 2459    💬 153    📌 232

you could fact check this — there aren’t 30 million illegal immigrants and there is no evidence that the presence of an immigrant in say houston has any impact on housing in madison, wisconsin — or you could note straightforwardly that this is just nazi rhetoric

13.11.2025 22:12 — 👍 16323    🔁 4042    💬 535    📌 127
13.11.2025 17:40 — 👍 9262    🔁 3333    💬 45    📌 47
Exactly what it says on the label: The Pope in 1982. He's wearing a black hat, dark RayBans, and looks like he's a member of the Blues Brothers.

Exactly what it says on the label: The Pope in 1982. He's wearing a black hat, dark RayBans, and looks like he's a member of the Blues Brothers.

What's from Chicago, hates Illinois Nazis, and is holy as fuck?

It's the Pope in 1982.

13.11.2025 01:37 — 👍 13245    🔁 2795    💬 332    📌 926
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B of A, on hyperscaler capex:

“.. In September and October alone, debt issuance from three firms was larger than the preceding three years combined for big tech issuance.”

$ORCL $META

12.11.2025 11:29 — 👍 164    🔁 59    💬 9    📌 9
Preview
Trump Canceled 94 Million Pounds of Food Aid. Here’s What Never Arrived. ProPublica obtained records from the Department of Agriculture that detail the millions of pounds of food, down to the number of eggs, that never reached food banks because of the administration’s cut...

Records obtained by ProPublica indicate that food banks across the country were expecting more than 27 million pounds of chicken, 2 million gallons of milk, 10 million pounds of dried fruit and 60 million eggs that never arrived.

(Published October)

12.11.2025 04:00 — 👍 1975    🔁 1260    💬 68    📌 100

It'll be called trumpcare because you'll also be forced to learn how to file for bankruptcy

11.11.2025 20:37 — 👍 447    🔁 74    💬 3    📌 3
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Really wish I had gotten a better shot of this but holding a phone that says “who else was just ‘following orders’?” up to a riot cop is hard as hell

11.11.2025 06:18 — 👍 7039    🔁 1684    💬 60    📌 53
Preview
Democratic leaders have failed us again. It's time to get new leaders. After yet another capitulation by Chuck Schumer and Senate Democrats, it's clear we need new leadership capable of mounting a serious opposition to Trump's authoritarian regime. We're launching our la...

After yesterday’s surrender, we’re launching the largest Democratic primary program that we’ve ever run.

We will not back any Senate primary candidate unless they call for Schumer to step down as Minority Leader.

If you’re as pissed as we are, join this campaign to rebuild the Democratic Party. 👇

11.11.2025 00:00 — 👍 6348    🔁 2124    💬 177    📌 176
r/ExpectationVsReality u/Additional-Simple858 • 3d
Join
Al 'doctor' said my back pain is depression, not a slipped disc. Now physical therapy won't get approved.
Al Expectation

We are reviewing claim #&
submitted on
09/28/2025. Our records indicate the claim was filed under diagnosis code F32.9 (Depressive disorder, unspecified), while the corresponding prescription and referral history list treatment for lumbar disc herniation (back pain).

r/ExpectationVsReality u/Additional-Simple858 • 3d Join Al 'doctor' said my back pain is depression, not a slipped disc. Now physical therapy won't get approved. Al Expectation We are reviewing claim #& submitted on 09/28/2025. Our records indicate the claim was filed under diagnosis code F32.9 (Depressive disorder, unspecified), while the corresponding prescription and referral history list treatment for lumbar disc herniation (back pain).

Re: Incorrect Diagnosis in
Record

Hi
Thank you for reaching out. We have reviewed your visit documentation and can confirm that the notes in question were generated using our Al scribe system. It appears the Al tool assigned diagnosis code F32.9 (Depressive disorder, unspecified), while your visit notes and treatment plan reference lumbar disc herniation (back pain).
Per compliance policy, certain Al-generated fields cannot be manually updated by clinic staff and require vendor correction. We have escalated this to our vendor support team and opened ticket # . We'll notify you once we receive
confirmation or correction from the vendor.

Re: Incorrect Diagnosis in Record Hi Thank you for reaching out. We have reviewed your visit documentation and can confirm that the notes in question were generated using our Al scribe system. It appears the Al tool assigned diagnosis code F32.9 (Depressive disorder, unspecified), while your visit notes and treatment plan reference lumbar disc herniation (back pain). Per compliance policy, certain Al-generated fields cannot be manually updated by clinic staff and require vendor correction. We have escalated this to our vendor support team and opened ticket # . We'll notify you once we receive confirmation or correction from the vendor.

a few months ago I said "having generative AI handle absolutely anything with regards to healthcare is a nightmare and should be banned" and a bunch of people made fun of me and called me stupid. anyways,

10.11.2025 16:00 — 👍 7475    🔁 2469    💬 93    📌 233

I Want You to Understand Chicago
Politics Chicago
2025-11-08

I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time.

Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again.

An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next.

Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st.

Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

I Want You to Understand Chicago Politics Chicago 2025-11-08 I want you to understand what it is like to live in Chicago during this time. Every day my phone buzzes. It is a neighborhood group: four people were kidnapped at the corner drugstore. A friend a mile away sends a Slack message: she was at the scene when masked men assaulted and abducted two people on the street. A plumber working on my pipes is distraught, and I find out that two of his employees were kidnapped that morning. A week later it happens again. An email arrives. Agents with guns have chased a teacher into the school where she works. They did not have a warrant. They dragged her away, ignoring her and her colleagues’ pleas to show proof of her documentation. That evening I stand a few feet from the parents of Rayito de Sol and listen to them describe, with anguish, how good Ms. Diana was to their children. What it is like to have strangers with guns traumatize your kids. For a teacher to hide a three-year-old child for fear they might be killed. How their relatives will no longer leave the house. I hear the pain and fury in their voices, and I wonder who will be next. Understand what it is to pray in Chicago. On September 19th, Reverend David Black, lead pastor at First Presbyterian Church of Chicago, was praying outside the ICE detention center in Broadview when a DHS agent shot him in the head with pepper balls. Pepper balls are never supposed to be fired at the head because they can seriously injure, or even kill. “We could hear them laughing as they were shooting us from the roof,” Black recalled. He is not the only member of the clergy ICE has assaulted. Methodist pastor Hannah Kardon was violently arrested on October 17th, and Baptist pastor Michael Woolf was shot with pepper balls on November 1st. Understand what it is to sleep in Chicago. On the night of September 30th, federal agents rappelled from a Black Hawk helicopter to execute a raid on an apartment building on the South Sho…

Kyle Kingsbury is not a journalist. He is not an op-ed writer.

He is a computer safety researcher.

And he has written one of the most compelling, comprehensive accounts of the ongoing hell in Chicago that you could possibly imagine.

In under 1600 words.

aphyr.com/posts/397-i-...

09.11.2025 20:49 — 👍 10276    🔁 5658    💬 115    📌 339

Following up on this. This remains a ‘cave is minutes or hours away’ situation. If you want to impact how this plays out you need to contact senators literally now. I want to add additional points of context. What I’m relaying is what I’ve picked up from highly reliable sources.

09.11.2025 22:42 — 👍 3410    🔁 1633    💬 183    📌 162

I'm hearing the same thing. Dems are nearing a surrender. I'm shocked. Largest protest in history + best election night in years + polling showing we're kicking their ass in public opinion. And now Dems may cave.

It ain't over til it's over, so please do call if you've got a Dem senator.

09.11.2025 21:04 — 👍 5081    🔁 2021    💬 248    📌 259
Joyce Carol Oates
@Joyce... 17h O
So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the
"most wealthy person in the world."

Joyce Carol Oates @Joyce... 17h O So curious that such a wealthy man never posts anything that indicates that he enjoys or is even aware of what virtually everyone appreciates— scenes from nature, pet dog or cat, praise for a movie, music, a book (but doubt that he reads); pride in a friend's or relative's accomplishment; condolences for someone who has died; pleasure in sports, acclaim for a favorite team; references to history. In fact he seems totally uneducated, uncultured. The poorest persons on Twitter may have access to more beauty & meaning in life than the "most wealthy person in the world."

Elon Musk ' @elonmusk
X.com
Oates is a liar and delights in being mean.
Not a good human.

Elon Musk ' @elonmusk X.com Oates is a liar and delights in being mean. Not a good human.

lol she got his ass and he knows it

09.11.2025 15:36 — 👍 29230    🔁 6387    💬 471    📌 768
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Thank you to Senator Ron Wyden for letting us know the MAGA Senate Republicans are trying to slide a nationwide abortion ban into the shutdown negotiations.

Hell no! They want to control every part of women’s lives and we aren’t having it.

F the patriarchy.

08.11.2025 22:12 — 👍 1321    🔁 869    💬 86    📌 78

Writing about Elon Musk’s pay package without leading with this is like profiling John Wayne Gacy’s booming party clown career.

07.11.2025 02:44 — 👍 3934    🔁 1282    💬 32    📌 21
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What a queen

07.11.2025 00:27 — 👍 9237    🔁 1585    💬 39    📌 278
LIVE
Updated Just Now
Live Updates: Mamdani Wins
N.Y.C. Mayor's Race After Highest Turnout in Decades
Zohran Mamdani, whose triumphant campaign was built on progressive ideas and a relentless focus on affordability, will become the city's youngest mayor in more than a century.
Share full article
N.Y.C. Mayoral Election Results ›
Candidate
Party
Votes
Pct.
Mamdani
Dem.
782,403
50.0%
Cuomo
Ind.
646,951
41.4
Sliwa
Rep.
120,476
7.7
Bronx
Manhattan
Staten Island
Groakon
69% of votes in
Source: Associated Press

LIVE Updated Just Now Live Updates: Mamdani Wins N.Y.C. Mayor's Race After Highest Turnout in Decades Zohran Mamdani, whose triumphant campaign was built on progressive ideas and a relentless focus on affordability, will become the city's youngest mayor in more than a century. Share full article N.Y.C. Mayoral Election Results › Candidate Party Votes Pct. Mamdani Dem. 782,403 50.0% Cuomo Ind. 646,951 41.4 Sliwa Rep. 120,476 7.7 Bronx Manhattan Staten Island Groakon 69% of votes in Source: Associated Press

And, this feels so good to write and live:

The New York Times calls the New York City mayor's race for Zohran Mamdani.

05.11.2025 02:38 — 👍 554    🔁 70    💬 7    📌 3

@thedon is following 20 prominent accounts