Rand Barthel
@randomcoolzip.bsky.social
Father, grandfather, retired software engineer, BA in Physics, lover of life, the stars, birds, sailing, history, and philosophy. Climate activist and believer in liberal democracy and humane values. Scantily clad women need not follow. Not here for that.
Reposted by Rand Barthel
ROTFL.
Also ... [facepalm].
Also ... [facepalm].
Mamdani isn't requiring NYC students to 'learn Arabic numerals.' They already do
You can't introduce something that has already been in use for centuries.
www.snopes.com
November 22, 2025 at 2:38 PM
ROTFL.
Also ... [facepalm].
Also ... [facepalm].
The next step is to make sure Trump and his creatures actually release all of the Epstein files. They will surely release a carefully chosen subset of the least incriminating, and then falsely claim that they have handed everything over. Just like Trump did with the Mar-a-Lago files.
November 19, 2025 at 4:19 AM
The next step is to make sure Trump and his creatures actually release all of the Epstein files. They will surely release a carefully chosen subset of the least incriminating, and then falsely claim that they have handed everything over. Just like Trump did with the Mar-a-Lago files.
Reposted by Rand Barthel
I may get in trouble for this, but here goes: everybody who is calling for Chuck Schumer's head should take a deep breath and listen to Lawrence O'Donnell's Nov. 10 monologue on "The Last Word." Lawrence knows the Senate well, and makes some points worth thinking about.
youtu.be/Eqe0Suhoats
youtu.be/Eqe0Suhoats
Lawrence: With Trump's shutdown ending, Dems are closer than ever to forcing Epstein files release
YouTube video by MSNBC
youtu.be
November 12, 2025 at 12:30 AM
I may get in trouble for this, but here goes: everybody who is calling for Chuck Schumer's head should take a deep breath and listen to Lawrence O'Donnell's Nov. 10 monologue on "The Last Word." Lawrence knows the Senate well, and makes some points worth thinking about.
youtu.be/Eqe0Suhoats
youtu.be/Eqe0Suhoats
It is not too early for Stephen Miller to start exploring the real estate market in Argentina.
November 5, 2025 at 3:51 PM
It is not too early for Stephen Miller to start exploring the real estate market in Argentina.
I think Congressional Dems should use the months of enforced idleness to conduct a People's House of Representatives on the Capitol steps. They should invite any Republicans who have reached their limit with their party's BS to join them. Hold hearings, pass legislation.
November 1, 2025 at 3:54 AM
I think Congressional Dems should use the months of enforced idleness to conduct a People's House of Representatives on the Capitol steps. They should invite any Republicans who have reached their limit with their party's BS to join them. Hold hearings, pass legislation.
My wife and I just canceled our Amazon Prime membership. We try to vote with our money in favor of the kind of future we want, and what we want is fewer oligarchs, less late-stage capitalism, and less power of the few over the many.
October 31, 2025 at 1:53 AM
My wife and I just canceled our Amazon Prime membership. We try to vote with our money in favor of the kind of future we want, and what we want is fewer oligarchs, less late-stage capitalism, and less power of the few over the many.
The most poignant sign I saw today.
Dwight D. Eisenhower — “Only our individual faith in freedom can keep us free.” #NoKings
October 19, 2025 at 1:35 AM
The most poignant sign I saw today.
Reposted by Rand Barthel
An astonishingly large crowd!
Chicago
Chicago
October 18, 2025 at 9:18 PM
An astonishingly large crowd!
Chicago
Chicago
I counted 261 No Kings democracy defenders at the One Traffic Light in the Little Town of Mendon, MA this morning!
October 18, 2025 at 7:39 PM
I counted 261 No Kings democracy defenders at the One Traffic Light in the Little Town of Mendon, MA this morning!
Reposted by Rand Barthel
“Have you ever notice how you can drive by the same trees or signs until you stop noticing them, until one disappears?”
October 11, 2025 at 8:54 PM
“Have you ever notice how you can drive by the same trees or signs until you stop noticing them, until one disappears?”
Reposted by Rand Barthel
If every person who reads & SHARES this post were to SIGN UP & ATTEND an Oct 18 #NoKings2 Day event, we'd have our numbers for serious action!
Don't just post on social media, SHOW UP AND BE COUNTED Oct 18! We need the resistance numbers for future action!
Register nokings.org
@indivisible.org
Don't just post on social media, SHOW UP AND BE COUNTED Oct 18! We need the resistance numbers for future action!
Register nokings.org
@indivisible.org
No Kings
As the president escalates his authoritarian power grab, the NO KINGS non-violent movement continues to rise stronger. We are united once again to remind the world: America has No Kings and the power ...
nokings.org
October 4, 2025 at 6:32 PM
If every person who reads & SHARES this post were to SIGN UP & ATTEND an Oct 18 #NoKings2 Day event, we'd have our numbers for serious action!
Don't just post on social media, SHOW UP AND BE COUNTED Oct 18! We need the resistance numbers for future action!
Register nokings.org
@indivisible.org
Don't just post on social media, SHOW UP AND BE COUNTED Oct 18! We need the resistance numbers for future action!
Register nokings.org
@indivisible.org
This fits right in with the new theory that Epstein and Maxwell were running a kompromat shop: luring wealthy people into compromising positions, then selling the evidence to third parties interested in blackmailing those wealthy people. Epstein and Maxwell were getting paid at both ends.
The DOJ is requesting the names of two of Epstein’s co-conspirators whom he secretly wired money after his arrest in Miami, remain secret to respect their privacy.
To hell with their privacy arrest them!
#ProudBlue#Voices4Victory
apple.news/AchHAgXqwS1W...
To hell with their privacy arrest them!
#ProudBlue#Voices4Victory
apple.news/AchHAgXqwS1W...
DOJ says names of two associates Epstein wired $100k and $250k to should stay secret — NBC News
The Justice Department request came after NBC News asked a federal judge to unseal the names of two people Epstein paid and helped protect from prosecution.
apple.news
September 8, 2025 at 5:17 PM
This fits right in with the new theory that Epstein and Maxwell were running a kompromat shop: luring wealthy people into compromising positions, then selling the evidence to third parties interested in blackmailing those wealthy people. Epstein and Maxwell were getting paid at both ends.
Implicit in Trump's bullying of Fed chair Jerome Powell is the assumption that Powell is an authoritarian who can order the Fed to do what he wishes. Actually the he's the chair of the seven-member Board of Governors who make major decisions collectively.
August 2, 2025 at 12:47 AM
Implicit in Trump's bullying of Fed chair Jerome Powell is the assumption that Powell is an authoritarian who can order the Fed to do what he wishes. Actually the he's the chair of the seven-member Board of Governors who make major decisions collectively.
@harvard.edu Class of '78. I was thrilled when Harvard told Trump to pound sand last spring. Disappointed to hear of this $500 million settlement. Trump does not negotiate in good faith. He'll be back for more. His regime does not value truth or learning and finds universities inconvenient.
July 31, 2025 at 2:07 AM
@harvard.edu Class of '78. I was thrilled when Harvard told Trump to pound sand last spring. Disappointed to hear of this $500 million settlement. Trump does not negotiate in good faith. He'll be back for more. His regime does not value truth or learning and finds universities inconvenient.
Like everything else Trump does, the American Gulag is a grift.
That’s $328,000 per year (plus bonuses)!!!
TO STAFF A CONCENTRATION CAMP!!!
TO STAFF A CONCENTRATION CAMP!!!
Holy Crap look at the posted job applications for Alligator Auschwitz! The amount of money these so called Guards will be making is insane! 🤬🤬
July 20, 2025 at 1:03 PM
Like everything else Trump does, the American Gulag is a grift.
It is never too late, or not worth the effort, to make the future less awful than it would otherwise be.
I’m hearing a lot of despair and “what’s the point”-ing.
Here’s the point:
ONE less person kidnapped by ICE.
ONE more child vaccinated.
ONE grant reinstated.
ONE more PEPFAR treatment.
ONE more meal to a hungry kid.
ONE more person covered by Medicaid.
One life is ALWAYS worth resistance.
Here’s the point:
ONE less person kidnapped by ICE.
ONE more child vaccinated.
ONE grant reinstated.
ONE more PEPFAR treatment.
ONE more meal to a hungry kid.
ONE more person covered by Medicaid.
One life is ALWAYS worth resistance.
July 16, 2025 at 12:57 PM
It is never too late, or not worth the effort, to make the future less awful than it would otherwise be.
Elect an asshole, expect a shitshow.
Saturday newsletter; Our main character is the agency’s thoroughly absurd second-in-command, Dan Bongino, who is clashing with the only slightly less absurd attorney general over the cover-up cock-up clusterfuck handling of the Epstein files.
open.substack.com/pub/charlies...
open.substack.com/pub/charlies...
Surely, You Are Not Surprised
The Bongino Principle Revisited
open.substack.com
July 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Elect an asshole, expect a shitshow.
Trump makes the case for birthright citizenship.
July 12, 2025 at 3:45 PM
Trump makes the case for birthright citizenship.
Statements like this remind us just how gobsmackingly stupid racism is.
oh, we have some straightforward gutter racism. “the blacks and the browns are the reason white people can’t get ahead” www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2...
July 12, 2025 at 3:43 PM
Statements like this remind us just how gobsmackingly stupid racism is.
Not forgetting, not forgiving.
It will never be comprehensible or forgivable that the man who incited a deadly insurrection and attack on our Capitol was able to run again and retake the levers of power.
July 12, 2025 at 3:38 PM
Not forgetting, not forgiving.
Reposted by Rand Barthel
June 2025 was the lowest ever monthly emissions for EU's power sector, thanks to policy that created lots of wind and solar
You are allowed to enjoy and appreciate this. It is good. You don't need to reply with a bad thing. Just soak it up
ember-energy.org/data/electri... - via @ember-energy.org
You are allowed to enjoy and appreciate this. It is good. You don't need to reply with a bad thing. Just soak it up
ember-energy.org/data/electri... - via @ember-energy.org
July 12, 2025 at 12:59 AM
June 2025 was the lowest ever monthly emissions for EU's power sector, thanks to policy that created lots of wind and solar
You are allowed to enjoy and appreciate this. It is good. You don't need to reply with a bad thing. Just soak it up
ember-energy.org/data/electri... - via @ember-energy.org
You are allowed to enjoy and appreciate this. It is good. You don't need to reply with a bad thing. Just soak it up
ember-energy.org/data/electri... - via @ember-energy.org
Reposted by Rand Barthel
Religious communities have a long and important tradition of being leaders in the fight against authoritarianism. Learn concrete ways to push back in our Faithful Fight toolkits:
protectdemocracy.org/work/the-fai...
protectdemocracy.org/work/the-fai...
The Faithful Fight: Toolkits for countering authoritarianism - Protect Democracy
The Faithful Fight brings together strategies from religious leaders across denominations to help communities mobilize against authoritarian actions.
protectdemocracy.org
July 12, 2025 at 1:00 AM
Religious communities have a long and important tradition of being leaders in the fight against authoritarianism. Learn concrete ways to push back in our Faithful Fight toolkits:
protectdemocracy.org/work/the-fai...
protectdemocracy.org/work/the-fai...
And that goes no matter what "side" they're on.
Do not let up on this Epstein list not only because orange dude is on it, but because anyone on it is a predator and those victims still deserve justice.
July 12, 2025 at 1:32 AM
And that goes no matter what "side" they're on.
Foreign countries are seizing the opportunity to recruit American scientists to live and work abroad.
Donald Trump is ripping away America’s role as a world leader in science and innovation.
Cuts to health care breakthroughs.
Cuts to tech development.
Cuts to energy research.
How is this America first?
Cuts to health care breakthroughs.
Cuts to tech development.
Cuts to energy research.
How is this America first?
July 11, 2025 at 12:27 PM
Foreign countries are seizing the opportunity to recruit American scientists to live and work abroad.