Arotrios
Arotrios avatar

Arotrios

@Arotrios@kbin.social

For Amusement Purposes Only.

Changeling poet, musician and writer, born on the 13th floor. Left of counter-clockwise and right of the white rabbit, all twilight and sunrises, forever the inside outsider.

Seeks out and follows creative and brilliant minds. And crows. Occasional shadow librarian.

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Reddit Activity Plummeted After The Protests - by Adam Bumas (www.garbageday.email)

Last month marked the official end of the Reddit protests. Any subreddit that had changed its rules or gone dark — or forced its users to post exclusively about John Oliver — has now gone back to normal. On the surface, it seems like a complete victory for Reddit, but things aren’t so simple when a major element of that...

The Supreme Court is out of control and must be reformed (www.dailykos.com)

The majority then announced, with an opinion from Chief Justice John Roberts, that it was overthrowing the student loan forgiveness program, granting a request from six Republican state attorneys general on behalf of a loan servicer, the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority, that did not want to be used as a plaintiff....

The Supreme Court May Preemptively Ban a Federal Wealth Tax (newrepublic.com)

In a Wall Street Journal op-ed published in 2021, two of the Moores’ lawyers also declared unambiguously that the lawsuit “stands to slam shut the door on a federal wealth tax like the one Sen. Elizabeth Warren wants to enact.” They made a direct pitch to “the courts” to hear the Moores’ case “now” to make it...

[Opinion - Legal Analysis] The Constitution bars Trump from holding public office ever again - Donald K. Sherman (thehill.com)

While some ­on the right portray accountability for the Jan. 6 Capitol riot as just another partisan dispute, two prominent conservative legal scholars have made the case that the Constitution disqualifies former President Trump from public office....

Opinion: Joe Walsh - Trump Is a Dangerous Criminal Who Belongs in Prison (www.thedailybeast.com)

The four count indictment Special Counsel Jack Smith handed down against Donald Trump alleges that on Jan. 6, approximately two hours after the mob broke into the Capitol, “the Defendant” joined others in the outer Oval Office to watch the attack on television....

[News] State Republicans Try to Remove NC Supreme Court Justice for Mentioning the Existence of Racial Bias (slate.com)

On Tuesday, it was reported that North Carolina Supreme Court Justice Anita Earls could be ousted from her seat for judicial ethics violations. Did she fail to disclose gifts from a billionaire benefactor on whose cases she was ruling? No. Maybe she’d gone on luxury vacations across the globe paid for by some of the richest...

[News] "Hit list": Trump grand jurors face violent threats after names and addresses shared on QAnon forums - Salon.com (www.salon.com)

Users on far-right online forums are publishing private information about members of the Georgia grand jury that indicted former president Donald Trump and 18 of his allies in a sweeping criminal case focused on alleged 2020 election interference earlier this month, leading to jurors receiving threats online....

Arotrios, to fediverse
Arotrios avatar

So after stumbling across this patently absurd bit of Russian propaganda from noagendasocial.com, I'd thought I'd stroll on over to the instance and see what the fuck is going on over there. After all, it's run by Adam Curry of MTV VJ fame and the so-called podfather, so it's gotta be just one bad apple, right?

Holy fuck, it's like walking into FSB propaganda machine made for Trumptards. That one bad apple is a power user with the top rated post, an anti-LGBTQ+ meme.

@adam what the absolute hell? You used to be cool when I was 8 and watching MTV. Did you lose your morality and ethics when you cut your hair?

How to Short-Circuit the Outrage Machine (slate.com)

Any citizen of the social internet knows the feeling: that irritable contentiousness, that desire to get into it that seems almost impossible to resist, even though you know you’ve already squandered too many hours and too much emotional energy on pointless internet disputes. If you use Twitter, you may have noticed that at...

[News] DeSantis-controlled Disney World district gets rid of all diversity, equity and inclusion programs and staffers (www.nbcnews.com)

ORLANDO, Fla. — Diversity, equity and inclusion programs were abolished Tuesday from Walt Disney World’s governing district, now controlled by appointees of Gov. Ron DeSantis, in an echo of the Florida governor’s agenda which has championed curtailing such programs in higher education and elsewhere....

Arotrios, (edited ) to 13thFloor
Arotrios avatar

Lyft driver last night decided to tell me his life story. The guy was more than a bit unhinged, so I just let him talk.

Veteran, tours in both Iraq and Afghanistan. Starts talking about his domestic violence towards his ex-wife and children, laughing about how he had only jokingly threatened to break his children's legs, and when he stabbed his wife in the arm with a wire, it wasn't really a stabbing.

"I told the judge, if I had wanted to stab her, she'd be dead."

Complains in great detail about all the money she took from him, his prison time for the assault, and describes with glee hiding his assets in his vintage car. "New chrome, new hood, new tires - bitch wasn't gonna see that money!"

Continues on about how his new girl came from Iraq and knows what a war zone is like. Brags that he'll send her back if she doesn't marry him. Turns out he's never seen her in person, but has sent her over $7k through some online hookup site that charges per message. Goes off on how he helped her move from Canada to Chicago (we're in California), and complains about how each time he sends her money to come out west, she never shows up.

"I've bought the tux, the wedding dress - it's all ready to go - it's that or Iraq."

Note that all of this was punctuated with constant bouts of chuckling and provided completely unprompted - I said maybe three words the entire trip.


Why do I relate this story? First, it was watching bad karma in action, both the fuck around and find out phases wrapped up in a tidy taxi ride.

But I found myself wondering what he was like as a child... he was clearly struggling in the smarts department, but he had a natural friendliness that belied the horrible shit coming out of his mouth. It got me thinking to what this guy might have been like had the army not put a gun in his hand and sent him overseas to kill. He was in his forties, but his mind was that of a violent teenager - almost as if it had been frozen at the point in time when he was deployed.

I speak about this because I've seen the same pattern in other vets I've known, including some I went to high school with (1st Gulf War vets). Something gets permanently broken in them, keeping them in a state of constant angry adolescence that takes childish glee in abuse, cruelty and savagery as a way to normalize their experience.

And then they come home, leaving a trail of destruction in their wake as they try to integrate to a peacetime existence, unable to grow up, Peter Pan with a gun in hand.

I wish someone had made this clear to my friends who joined up. There's more than one of them who's too dangerous to be a friend to now.

[News] “Dark” right-wing network recruits MAGA “army” to replace 50K federal workers Trump plans to purge (www.salon.com)

A network of conservative groups is gearing up for the potential reelection of Donald Trump, actively enlisting an "army" of Americans to come to Washington with a mission to disassemble the federal government and substitute it with a vision that aligns more closely with their own beliefs and ideas, according to The Associated...

[Poll Analysis] Lauren Boebert begs supporters for help after admitting her campaign is flailing (www.lgbtqnation.com)

It’s official: Colorado Rep. Lauren Boebert (R) is scared. Recent polling has shown Democratic frontrunner Adam Frisch in the lead in Boebert’s district, and now the anti-LGBTQ+ Congresswoman is pleading with voters for help....

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