WE TRIED TO WARN YOU @cogenteur.bsky.social

a.k.a.RonK, Seattle
Lighthouse in a fogged-up world.

Futures(?) of democracy & discourse

Climate's changing, billionaires are taking over, and we all have a brain the size of a walnut.

Trump 2.0 is blitzing Democrats & allies, who can't pin down what went wrong or how to fix it.

Many voices, no harmony.

What's to be done? I surely have no idea.

But a suggestion: Pound these five simple words until they echo thru the ages:
"WE TRIED TO WARN YOU".

A 10-reason 🧵
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cogenteur.bsky.social's profile picture
WE TRIED TO WARN YOU @cogenteur.bsky.social
2d
Unless you have personally done a heaping measure of in-the-wild canvassing, you are a low-information opinion-haver.
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Trump avoided national service in tie of war by paying off a medic for a "bone spurs" Dx, but a proper memorial to his reign could be as simple as a monumental depiction of fallen arches.
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HOLY SEE, BATMAN!
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Reminder: Dispatching a rabid animal *before* it bites is invariably lawful, ethical, in good order ... and obligatory upon one who has the opportunity.

(nytimes gift article)
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The question's not "What to do?". It's "What to do NOW?".

And NOW it's out of the hands of mere voters, activists, legislators, judges, department heads.

NOW it's up to active-duty military to choose: insubordination, or life-long prospect of prosecution for war crimes & crimes against humanity.
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Lindsey Cormack @dcinbox.bsky.social
8d
The Ten Plagues of American Politics
Naming the problems, and working to fix them

dcinboxinsights.substack.com/p/the-ten-plagues-of-american-politics
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Kim Kelly @kimkelly.bsky.social
9d
Amidst everything else, the Trump regime has quietly killed off the U.S. Forest Service 🌲

“One hundred and ninety-three million acres of your national forests… just handed, on a silver platter, to the people who’ve spent their entire careers trying to destroy it.”

www.hatchmag.com/articles/trump-administration-orders-dismantling-us-forest-service/7716263?utm_source=Sidney+Hillman+Foundation&utm_campaign=e77cdc573d-SP_2025_12_12_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_-73a8db7644-197674633
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Back in the USA, SecDef Hegseth is keeping pace -- eliminating senior officers, burning bridges, destroying military infrastructure.

But (for now, anyway) it's a war of inventory attrition, and missile stocks on both sides seem roughly half-spent.
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Here we go again.

If GWB had his way, we'd have "diversified" Social Security straight into the jaws of a 2008 GFC.

But why just di-versify? In this unparalleled digital age, let's MULTIVERSIFY it!

[checks earpiece] Hold that thought - I'm being informed there are ... developments.
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Kevin J. Kircher @kevinjkircher.com
22d
The final report on last April's Spain/Portugal blackout is out. A few takeaways:

- Lack of "inertia" due to too few fossil/nuclear generators - the thing anti-renewable pundits immediately blamed without evidence, then reporters breathlessly endlessly repeated - played essentially no role.
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Attorney General Nick Brown @atg.wa.gov
25d
If you printed out all these pages and stacked them, they would be more than 300 feet tall, taller than the dome of the Washington State Legislative Building. Or taller than 52 Josh Naylors.
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Margo Gontar @margogontar.bsky.social
25d
‘Do you even have wi fi working in Ukraine?’ Meanwhile , in Ukraine: a machine that identifies how ripe is your avocado 🥑✨
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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social
27d
Great thread on journalism.
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Nothings Monstered @nothingsmonstrd.bsky.social
27d
one major reason why the USA has given significant military aid to Israel every year since 1975, no matter who has been running it's government, is exactly the same reason the the USA has given significant military aid to Egypt since 1975 no matter who has been running its government.
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With Congressional money burning a hole in their pockets, ICE/DHS bought thousands of vehicles they can't use.

@vcdgf555.bsky.social spotted racks of these SUVs rolling thru Everett WA (north of Seattle) earlier.

Why can't ICE use them? They virtually, visually shout "RUN AWAY!!!"
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Tim Mak @timkmak.bsky.social
1mo
Deep dive, geeky take on the missile/interceptor technology that is being used by the Iranians, Israelis and the United States.

Meanwhile, why are Iranian drones getting through American defenses?

www.iranwar.news/p/iran-missile-launches-slowing-drone
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Alice Evans @draliceevans.bsky.social
1mo
In 1400, Oxford had a population of 6,000 and about 6 killings a year. Triple that of London and York.

Why was it so violent?

Students got off with impunity, as they had clerical privileges!

Nice evidence on institutions
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Data Bear 🏳️‍🌈 @dataandpolitics.net
1mo
A long time ago, I used to know a lot about foreign-imposed regime change (FIRC) and study them.

I guess that makes me qualified to write a thread about them, especially in wake of Trump bombing Iran.

So here goes nothing. 🧵
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Anti-missile/anti-drone/anti-aircraft **arsenal depletion** - proceeding rapidly, with no clear end in sight.

Global stock of drones/missiles gets replenished faster than corresponding stock of countermeasures.

Among other implications: not good for Ukraine.
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c0nc0rdance.bsky.social's profile picture
c0nc0rdance @c0nc0rdance.bsky.social
1mo
So we have a Russian plant that is consuming all resources for itself, spreading misery and chaos everywhere it grows & can't be removed with the usual mechanisms.

It reminds me of *someone* in particular.

I just can't quite put my finger on who. 🤔🍊
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Al Jazeera English @aljazeera.com
1mo
Air attacks on Kabul push Pakistan-Taliban crisis into uncharted territory aje.news/dpu4gu
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Aaron Fritschner @fritschner.bsky.social
1mo
But people should not assume that Axios printing a headline that Dem leaders are not whipping a vote means they don’t care if it passes or secretly want Republicans to win or whatever. Often it means they are whipping, just in other ways (which at times is more effective, though not always).
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Nothing to do with being rude.

And we're all pissed as hell.
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Godberry @godberry.bsky.social
1mo
So, is there a Puppy Bowl version of the State of the Union?
#sotu
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Reportedly, Trump plans to speak at length about the state of the economy tonight.

Bad plan. Boring topic, and not a good look for him..

Instead, he should drone on for 2-3 hours about the state of his personal net worth. That's how you really impress the rubes.
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"These are not the words of someone whose desire is to enslave people, as right-wingers today believe is the goal of all socialists, but rather those of a humanitarian deeply committed to liberty ... who was economically sophisticated and whose humanity led him to socialism." (re J.S. Mill)
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The Editorial Board @editorialboard.bsky.social
1mo
31. Basically, if it’s a tax on them, elites make it sound like a tax on you. If it’s a tax on you, they make you wonder if it’s a tax at all.
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From Frederick Douglass's 1867 "Composite Nation" speech, a defense of Chinese migration to the United States at a time when anti-Chinese sentiment was intensifying.
teachingamericanhistory.org/document/our-composite-nationality/
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Jack Santucci @jacksantucci.bsky.social
2mo
By the way, this is more or less how a job in 501c3 works.
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Mark Histed @markhisted.org
2mo
Good take on integrity. And money from rightwing donors into media and policy is another, perhaps more pernicious mode of corruption.

DC is awash in billionaire-funded thinktanks pushing privatization and laissez-faire unregulated markets.
Same w/ media outlets, from Reason to Fox to WSJ Opinion.
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