Jason Sproul
@synposium.com
Systems engineer, servant-leader. My opinions only. We need "freedom from" as well as "freedom to".
Pinned
Jason Sproul
@synposium.com
· Oct 2
I know these guys are all dumber than a sack of hammers, but it is fascinating to see the military decide “logistics are gay” in real time
The real smash and grab crime wave was the Republicans we elected along the way.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Tariffs as a % of GDP are at the highest level in more than 100 years amidst Trump's trade war—even though tariff rates are still lower than in the 1930s, they have a much higher impact because trade volumes are much larger than in the past
December 27, 2025 at 6:26 PM
Tariffs as a % of GDP are at the highest level in more than 100 years amidst Trump's trade war—even though tariff rates are still lower than in the 1930s, they have a much higher impact because trade volumes are much larger than in the past
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Rejoice! Carmakers Are Embracing Physical Buttons Again
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its…
wrd.cm
December 27, 2025 at 6:44 PM
Amazingly, reaction times using screens while driving are worse than being drunk or high—no wonder 90 percent of drivers hate using touchscreens in cars. Finally the auto industry is coming to its senses.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
America's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
December 27, 2025 at 7:01 PM
America's richest 10% now hold 60% of the nation's wealth.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
The bottom half of America? It holds just 6%.
Wealth inequality is eating this country alive.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Folks look at you like you’re crazy when you say we’re in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in 🇺🇸 history, & then it’s Saturday.
December 27, 2025 at 7:21 PM
Folks look at you like you’re crazy when you say we’re in the midst of the worst, most unprecedented Article I constitutional crisis in 🇺🇸 history, & then it’s Saturday.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Corn products like tortillas are poor sources of folate known to cause deficiency, & people who consume diets high in corn flour products have increased adverse effects from folate deficiency, like neural tube defects. This health disparity is easily treated.
RFK is just ignorant, eugenicist trash.
RFK is just ignorant, eugenicist trash.
Kennedy says adding folic acid to tortillas is “waging war” against poor residents. Folic acid has long been added to cereal and bread and the CDC website currently says it’s safe for those with the mutation mentioned in the thread Kennedy is replying to.
December 27, 2025 at 7:58 PM
Corn products like tortillas are poor sources of folate known to cause deficiency, & people who consume diets high in corn flour products have increased adverse effects from folate deficiency, like neural tube defects. This health disparity is easily treated.
RFK is just ignorant, eugenicist trash.
RFK is just ignorant, eugenicist trash.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
My really basic litmus test for determining if someone will say anything in the hope of getting power is the (very small number of) people arguing that birthright citizenship is anything other than what it has been accepted to be for a century and a half.
December 27, 2025 at 8:32 PM
My really basic litmus test for determining if someone will say anything in the hope of getting power is the (very small number of) people arguing that birthright citizenship is anything other than what it has been accepted to be for a century and a half.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
“Then they shouldn’t have voted for this!”
Bitch, Asheville is a blue college town and the county has gone blue for decades. I am so sick of this “if I pretend disasters only happen to red areas, it means I’m safe because I’m properly on the left!” No. You’re not safe. That’s why we save everybody.
Bitch, Asheville is a blue college town and the county has gone blue for decades. I am so sick of this “if I pretend disasters only happen to red areas, it means I’m safe because I’m properly on the left!” No. You’re not safe. That’s why we save everybody.
Hundreds of residents signed up for FEMA buyouts after Hurricane Helene. Not one has been approved.
Hundreds of residents signed up for FEMA buyouts after Helene. Not one has been approved.
More than a year after applying for a federal buyout, many North Carolina homeowners have heard almost nothing definitive.
www.washingtonpost.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:05 PM
“Then they shouldn’t have voted for this!”
Bitch, Asheville is a blue college town and the county has gone blue for decades. I am so sick of this “if I pretend disasters only happen to red areas, it means I’m safe because I’m properly on the left!” No. You’re not safe. That’s why we save everybody.
Bitch, Asheville is a blue college town and the county has gone blue for decades. I am so sick of this “if I pretend disasters only happen to red areas, it means I’m safe because I’m properly on the left!” No. You’re not safe. That’s why we save everybody.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Corruption so pungent, it wafts right off the page:
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Lobbyists who do pardon deals “say their going rate is $1 million. Pardon-seekers have offered some lobbyists close to the president success fees of as much as $6 million if they can close the deal.”
Gift link www.wsj.com/politics/pol...
Inside the New Fast Track to a Presidential Pardon
Even some of the president’s closest advisers have been surprised by a number of the recent series of pardons.
www.wsj.com
December 27, 2025 at 9:24 PM
All of the money that changed hands in the Teapot Dome scandal totaled less than $10 million after adjusting for inflation, and it was considered so corrupt we still teach it in high school government classes a century later.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Not to continue to harp on my own points ad infinitum but I continue to only see a handful of Congresspeople, all Democrats, criticize the UAE openly for its role in facilitating the atrocities in Sudan, and those Congresspeople are all uniformly at the forefront of criticism of Israel as well.
December 27, 2025 at 11:04 PM
Not to continue to harp on my own points ad infinitum but I continue to only see a handful of Congresspeople, all Democrats, criticize the UAE openly for its role in facilitating the atrocities in Sudan, and those Congresspeople are all uniformly at the forefront of criticism of Israel as well.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Always come back to this observation from @adamserwer.bsky.social
December 27, 2025 at 11:27 PM
Always come back to this observation from @adamserwer.bsky.social
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Reposted by Jason Sproul
You don't need to be an anarchist to think that ICE should be abolished
You can be a good governance liberal who thinks that the agency has demonstrated an institutional disrespect for the Constitution, and therefore advocate for unwinding the agency and rolling its functions into a revived INS.
You can be a good governance liberal who thinks that the agency has demonstrated an institutional disrespect for the Constitution, and therefore advocate for unwinding the agency and rolling its functions into a revived INS.
ICE have revealed themselves to be nothing more than the partisan militia of MAGA. When Trump became president, he did not "execute Order 66." They have been yearning for the Day of the Rope since their founding, and all Trump did was give free rein to their basest impulses.
December 27, 2025 at 8:12 PM
You don't need to be an anarchist to think that ICE should be abolished
You can be a good governance liberal who thinks that the agency has demonstrated an institutional disrespect for the Constitution, and therefore advocate for unwinding the agency and rolling its functions into a revived INS.
You can be a good governance liberal who thinks that the agency has demonstrated an institutional disrespect for the Constitution, and therefore advocate for unwinding the agency and rolling its functions into a revived INS.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Solidarity.
What gave you courage in 2025?
December 27, 2025 at 8:19 PM
Solidarity.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Given my priors, I can't quite believe I'm here, but
The next administration needs to staff up the public corruption section of DOJ in such a way that the WPA looks like a neighborhood lemonade stand
The next administration needs to staff up the public corruption section of DOJ in such a way that the WPA looks like a neighborhood lemonade stand
New reporting says Don Jr. directly facilitated the pardon of a crypto whale who had promoted the Trump's family crypto. Jr. brought the pardon lawyer to the White House, and introduced him directly to his Dad. Pardon occurred right after. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/pardon-the...
December 27, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Given my priors, I can't quite believe I'm here, but
The next administration needs to staff up the public corruption section of DOJ in such a way that the WPA looks like a neighborhood lemonade stand
The next administration needs to staff up the public corruption section of DOJ in such a way that the WPA looks like a neighborhood lemonade stand
Reposted by Jason Sproul
There’s how old you think you are, and there’s how old shoveling six inches of snow tells you that you are.
December 27, 2025 at 9:40 PM
There’s how old you think you are, and there’s how old shoveling six inches of snow tells you that you are.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
Not to put too fine a point on it--or to declare that KA is the next big thing in politics--but THE NORMAL WAY OF DOING POLITICS is a game that GOP-aligned money has a lock on. The fix there is in. So change the game: demonstrate that democrats concretely want to help people, directly.
Do you know what IS effective, left-wing, and transformative? When political campaigns give millions and millions of dollars to consultants, PR firms, and professional staff.
Never doubt that throwing millions at ad campaigns can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
Never doubt that throwing millions at ad campaigns can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has.
But what I said above is still true, and not even really controversial irl. A bunch of community members giving away canned goods from their basement has been around for as long as there have been communities, it’s never been particularly effective, nor left-wing. It’s not transformative, certainly.
December 27, 2025 at 3:04 PM
Not to put too fine a point on it--or to declare that KA is the next big thing in politics--but THE NORMAL WAY OF DOING POLITICS is a game that GOP-aligned money has a lock on. The fix there is in. So change the game: demonstrate that democrats concretely want to help people, directly.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
I think it’ll be interesting to see when Musk weaponizes the X algorithm in favor of Republicans. It’s gotten a little loose this year with some left voices sneaking into a discourse. I bet his algo will be flipped firmly to Fascism Mode by the summer.
Musk prepares to buy another election and smear more trans kids
This time, there are ZERO excuses for falling into his trap.
This time, there are ZERO excuses for falling into his trap.
Musk prepares to buy another election and smear more trans kids
This time there are no excuses for falling into his trap.
www.thefarce.org
December 27, 2025 at 3:04 PM
I think it’ll be interesting to see when Musk weaponizes the X algorithm in favor of Republicans. It’s gotten a little loose this year with some left voices sneaking into a discourse. I bet his algo will be flipped firmly to Fascism Mode by the summer.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
There's a very common attitude now on here that says that Mamdani had an incredibly easy opponent in Cuomo but to be blunt if you keyword search well enough and look at posts from prior to late June everyone was saying the exact opposite
December 27, 2025 at 3:12 PM
There's a very common attitude now on here that says that Mamdani had an incredibly easy opponent in Cuomo but to be blunt if you keyword search well enough and look at posts from prior to late June everyone was saying the exact opposite
Reposted by Jason Sproul
What's so crazy about this is that Congress is passing almost no laws despite GOP majorities in both chambers. The Trump administration doesn't *want* normal three-branch constitutional governance because they're trying to enshrine something else.
From the NYT today, 2 charts on the brokenness of American politics:
December 27, 2025 at 3:15 PM
What's so crazy about this is that Congress is passing almost no laws despite GOP majorities in both chambers. The Trump administration doesn't *want* normal three-branch constitutional governance because they're trying to enshrine something else.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
They're desperate to rationalize "heritage American" as if it's some serious intellectual theory and not a white nationalist twitter meme. Which doesn't work because it is, in fact, just a white nationalist twitter meme.
December 27, 2025 at 12:50 PM
They're desperate to rationalize "heritage American" as if it's some serious intellectual theory and not a white nationalist twitter meme. Which doesn't work because it is, in fact, just a white nationalist twitter meme.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
the point of naming names isn't to be personal or punitive, it's that they clearly just don't understand the enemy & can't lead the fight against them
www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-alarmi...
www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-alarmi...
Trump ‘Alarmists’ Were Right. We Should Say So.
Commentators who got it wrong wouldn’t listen, won’t learn, and can’t lead.
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 27, 2025 at 12:27 PM
the point of naming names isn't to be personal or punitive, it's that they clearly just don't understand the enemy & can't lead the fight against them
www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-alarmi...
www.liberalcurrents.com/trump-alarmi...
Reposted by Jason Sproul
for whatever its worth, the best evidence we have is that the "they/them" ad didn't move many votes
the anti-trans panic is more of an elite thing, as far as we can tell swing voters don't care much either way
www.liberalcurrents.com/trans-panic-...
the anti-trans panic is more of an elite thing, as far as we can tell swing voters don't care much either way
www.liberalcurrents.com/trans-panic-...
Trans Panic? More Like Trans Apathetic
2025 shows trans rights aren't electoral poison. The truth? Most people just don't care that much.
www.liberalcurrents.com
December 27, 2025 at 12:05 PM
for whatever its worth, the best evidence we have is that the "they/them" ad didn't move many votes
the anti-trans panic is more of an elite thing, as far as we can tell swing voters don't care much either way
www.liberalcurrents.com/trans-panic-...
the anti-trans panic is more of an elite thing, as far as we can tell swing voters don't care much either way
www.liberalcurrents.com/trans-panic-...
Reposted by Jason Sproul
I spoke to her attorney yesterday; she is still in the country as far as they know bsky.app/profile/aila...
"Her family has now been told she has been deported, despite US District Judge Brendan Hurson ruling Thursday that she could not be deported pending a hearing...attorneys said Monday that they have...confirm[ed] with the hospital she was born in Maryland." https://bit.ly/3MMdJvz
ICE detains woman whose lawyer insists is US citizen. DHS says she isn't
Federal agents arrested Dulce Consuelo Diaz Morales on her way home in Baltimore, Maryland.
bit.ly
December 27, 2025 at 1:15 PM
I spoke to her attorney yesterday; she is still in the country as far as they know bsky.app/profile/aila...
Reposted by Jason Sproul
At this point, I hope we learn that Trump really has been blackmailing A.G. Sulzberger the XXVI all this time, because if that failgreatgrandson has been kissing his ass like this on his own free will it’s going to be depressing as hell.
This is how the New York Times sums up Trump’s term so far.
December 27, 2025 at 1:18 PM
At this point, I hope we learn that Trump really has been blackmailing A.G. Sulzberger the XXVI all this time, because if that failgreatgrandson has been kissing his ass like this on his own free will it’s going to be depressing as hell.
Reposted by Jason Sproul
>Bernie campaign free carwash and free headlight/taillight repair
>Warren campaign carwash where payment is indexed to each donor's tax bracket
>Beto campaign carwash that scratches your paint up
>Mayor Pete campaign carwash that secretly adds gps trackers to everyone's car
>Warren campaign carwash where payment is indexed to each donor's tax bracket
>Beto campaign carwash that scratches your paint up
>Mayor Pete campaign carwash that secretly adds gps trackers to everyone's car
sincerely doubt if, eg, Beto O'Rourke's campaign had done some sort of community car wash, that we'd have several cycles of discourse coming from many different quarters about whether that was a crime, effective use of funds, destroying campaign finance, etc etc
December 27, 2025 at 1:31 PM
>Bernie campaign free carwash and free headlight/taillight repair
>Warren campaign carwash where payment is indexed to each donor's tax bracket
>Beto campaign carwash that scratches your paint up
>Mayor Pete campaign carwash that secretly adds gps trackers to everyone's car
>Warren campaign carwash where payment is indexed to each donor's tax bracket
>Beto campaign carwash that scratches your paint up
>Mayor Pete campaign carwash that secretly adds gps trackers to everyone's car