jl, thinking

For some context, we could have made the monthly child tax credit that cut child poverty by 40% permanent for $100 billion a year. The return on investment would have been $15 per $1.

Why are the loudest Vets the ones who barely served at all? Dude with his “Let’s Go Brandon” bumper sticker right next to the Marine Corps emblem and a single chevron (PFC) sticker was loud with it. Like, that was maybe 6 years of his life, yet it’s his whole identity. Just feels inauthentic.

YouTube video by Channel 5 with Andrew Callaghan Charlie Kirk Memorial

I wonder if my lefty buds have considered that the version of religion rampant at this memorial was only able to swell up because we gave away the ground. Maybe if we participated in religious spaces, we could set the terms for what legitimate religious dialogue looks like?

youtu.be/L0D2dxr09fE?...

It’ll be funny if there never really was anything valuable in the files and this was all a big misdirect.

I get that the news cycle is packed right now, but I just heard from a colleague at the Smithsonian that this is fully a GIANT SQUID BEING EATEN BY A SPERM WHALE and it’s possibly the first ever confirmed video according to a friend at NOAA

10 YEAR OLD ME IS LOSING HER MIND (a thread 🧵)

My theory is that anything corporations willingly do to humor whatever political agenda is going on is never going to be an actual threat to their bottom line. Removing artificial colors will probably be as costly to their profits as creating DEI initiatives was under the last administration.

Per capita consumption of margarine correlates with the divorce rate in Maine

Oh no. Someone alert RFK Jr.

Sometimes, I can recognize when I’m feeling the urge to eat my feelings. It’s the feelings part that’s hard to pin down. Like, why am I feeling so much on a Wednesday morning that I want to bankrupt Golden Coral?

Get more from Michael Burns on Patreon using philosophy to make sense of a non-sense world

oh you know if you wanna throw $5 a month into helping me grow the channel that'd be cool but if not i totally get it.

www.patreon.com/MichaelBurns...

Why TF is cheese so great? Pretty sure dairy bothers my toddler’s tummy but the only thing she eats consistently lately (and we give tons of options) is the cheese off of pizzas and Mac n Cheese. Thing is, I don’t blame her. I’d probably do the same in her shoes, and I’m capable of complex thoughts.

I’ve never eaten kale and I don’t have autism, so clearly kale causes autism.

Against Technofeudal Education Pillars For Protecting Our "Core Infrastructure" From OpenAI

This is just a reminder that anything publicly deemed “woke” is a target that those in power wish to control or manipulate to do their bidding. “Woke AI” means prevent regulation and ethical guardrails. “BlueSky is woke” means no no decentralized platforms.

open.substack.com/pub/theameri...

Gym shorts, hoodie, flip flops, and a hat.

how did derrick henry fumble the helmet slam

Steelers-Ravens this year is gonna be so sturdy. Derrick Henry will have 300 yards, three fumbles, and an interception. Game ends tied at 18 (six Boswell field goals vs three touchdowns with a missed extra point and two failed 2-point tries)

Maybe I’m doing it wrong, but BlueSky is really feeling like a non-stop torrent of catastrophe lately. Like, I get it, everything is fucked. But, does literally everyone on here feel the need to remark on it? Do you have nothing more interesting or critical to say? Just gets boring.

I believe the whole point of the current regime’s economic policy is to devalue the US dollar to open the way path to legitimizing crypto and decentralized currencies. It’s a libertarian wet dream.

The Luddite Renaissance is in full swing This fall, the new luddites are rising

in education, creative industries, caring professions, and LABOR ORGANIZING, people are doing things, there's a movement

against-a-i.com

www.bloodinthemachine.com/p/the-luddit...

Watching the Steelers-Patriots game with the subtitles on is too funny right now. Boutte (pronounced BOOTY) is a name that closed captioning wasn’t prepared for.

I know… I’m a child.

They Tried to Snuff Out Hawaii's Native Board Game. Meet the Man Keeping It Alive Kōnane was once a national pastime, played by peasants and rulers alike. Now John Kaʻohelauliʻi has made it his mission to bring it back.

www.rollingstone.com/culture/rs-g...

If the group you identify with or thing you like has a “style”, then it’s probably been subsumed by the system that the group or thing exists allegedly in opposition to. I’m thinking about goth in my youth and maybe artist aesthetic now. This just perpetuates the system that makes you angsty.

Home ownership is as much a trap as it is a prison. Florida has no redeeming qualities. Motorcycles are stupid and dangerous. Cars are stupid and inefficient and dangerous. 95% of truck owners don’t need them. Retail therapy isn’t really a thing. There are too many choices at the grocery store.

You ever stop and think, “Why do we all like the same shit?” I feel like we collectively have this shitty 80’s era image of things imbedded in our brains. Beaches are boring. Disney World is stressful and not worth the money. Two and a half kids with a dog means it’s hard to enjoy your life.

I’m not saying we should all go join a church, but I am concerned that the boom in angry atheism (which I participated in) may have been a PSYOP to fragment collective power in the US. Faith based orgs were centers for liberation movements during the Civil Rights movement. They still could be.

Restricting access pushes people into a few algorithmic platforms whose opaque feeds can be steered by aligned interests, intentionally or not. This subtly distorts reality for casual users. Even if framed as safety, the centralization of gatekeeping power increases the risk of narrative control.

The Lost Art Of Thinking Historically | NOEMA To understand the world today, we must see it as actors of the past did: through a foggy windshield, not a rearview mirror, facing a future of radical uncertainty.

I can't recommend this essay enough: "Ultimately, thinking historically is about asking better, more probing questions. It is a disciplined curiosity that fosters an appreciation for the complex interplay of individual agency, structural forces and pure chance." www.noemamag.com/the-lost-art...

I think the worst part of it all is that existing support systems are there to help you cope so you can keep operating within the system that is crushing your soul and making you need the support system, so you use the support system, cope, & get back to work, as if the overall system is just okay.

This dog led an officer to his leash while being rescued from his burning home. 14/10 for all (IG: aurorapoliceil)

archive.is/2025.09.16-1...

A solid intro for baby Leftists: someone asked this Marxist content creator, “What’s the difference between Marxism and Communism?” and he breaks it down clearly. Sharing for anyone who’s just starting to explore socialism and wants the basics explained without jargon.