Ben Van Bloem
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bambooboy.bsky.social
Ben Van Bloem
@bambooboy.bsky.social
110 followers 380 following 40 posts
Lifetime learner
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Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
joshmcelwee.org
Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and strangers today is tantamount to rejecting God himself. For @reuters.com
Pope Leo, on Christmas Eve, says denying help to poor is rejecting God
Pope Leo said in a Christmas Eve sermon on Wednesday that the story of Jesus being born in a stable because there was no room at an inn should remind Christians that refusing to help the poor and stra...
www.reuters.com
December 24, 2025 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
dirtbagqueer.rocks
fuck :(
December 23, 2025 at 10:37 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
karlbode.com
they are chosen by affluent media ownership SPECIFICALLY BECAUSE they aren't burdened by any sense of responsibility to their profession or the public
resnikoff.bsky.social Ned Resnikoff @resnikoff.bsky.social · 5d
The Olivia Nuzzi story and the Bari Weiss at CBS story are the same story, which is that the upper echelons of legacy media are absolutely rife with people who worship power and don't feel burdened by any sense of responsibility to their profession or the public.
December 22, 2025 at 6:46 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
worldbollardassoc.bsky.social
An American beast. Tamed.
#WorldBollardAssociation
December 20, 2025 at 3:03 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
zer0point-vids.bsky.social
jake paul having caught hands cover of kurosawa’s “ran”
December 20, 2025 at 2:38 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
mmfa.bsky.social
Nick Fuentes embodies the MAGA movement’s cynical embrace of extremism as a route to political power. After a power struggle in the MAGA universe over his place in the movement, the podcaster is reaping the rewards of the online attention economy. Fuentes is our 2025 Misinformer of the Year:
Nick Fuentes is the biggest beneficiary of a crowded and fractured new era of right-wing media
www.mediamatters.org
December 19, 2025 at 7:14 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
parkermolloy.com
David Brooks, who wrote in the NYT last month, "The Epstein Story? Count Me Out" is... in the latest Epstein photo dump published by @oversightdemocrats.house.gov.

He should absolutely be fired by NYT for this. Major conflict of interest that he didn't disclose.
David Brooks: The Epstein Story? Count Me Out. David Brooks in the epstein photos
December 18, 2025 at 5:35 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
jokeb0i.bsky.social
if tumblr dies I need this video to make it's seasonal rotation here instead just in case, Happy holidays 🎄
December 18, 2025 at 2:05 AM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
propublicaguild.org
1/ At bargaining yesterday, @propublica.org management said that they should have 100% discretion to replace workers with AI and would not commit to labeling future AI-generated content.
Headline: ProPublica management wants 100% discretion over when and how to use AI Supplementary text: The organization rejected our proposal that ensures staff will not be replaced by AI and requires labeling AI-generated content
December 17, 2025 at 5:30 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
whetmoser.com
still think usaid is the biggest story of the year
propublica.org ProPublica @propublica.org · 10d
NEW: Without USAID funding to help buy food for refugees, the World Food Program rushed to prioritize families based on need, determining that only half the population would get food.

Refugees learned which half they were in from a number stamped on the back of their ration card.
After Trump Officials Cut Food Aid to Kenya, Children Starved to Death
“Brutal and traumatizing”: Interviews and a trove of internal documents show government officials and aid workers desperately tried to warn Trump advisers about impending disaster and death.
www.propublica.org
December 17, 2025 at 2:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
iceflightmonitor.bsky.social
An ICE Air flight carried migrants from Alexandria, LA, to the US Naval Base at Guantánamo Bay today—the first migrants held at GTMO since October 17.
December 15, 2025 at 12:17 AM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
raxkingisdead.bsky.social
goddamn dude poor fucking cuba. scapegoated at this pitch for decades and decades now
December 11, 2025 at 11:11 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
junlper.beer
the disney and openai partnership is a bleak look into a potential future where all of these creative arts companies and media industry of every type is entirely owned and operated by big tech
December 11, 2025 at 10:32 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
leilashafiqmog.bsky.social
The quickest and easiest inoculation against getting scammed is..accepting that you could definitely fall for it and need to be vigilant. You may still get scammed, but at least you won't be shamefaced about it!
michaelhobbes.bsky.social Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 17d
There's a tendency to look at these after the fact and go "I would never fall for this" but I have definitely gotten emails from journalists or public figures I don't know, done 5-ish minutes of googling and replied. At first it looks like a totally harmless, plausible message!
December 11, 2025 at 4:29 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
gbbranstetter.bsky.social
Flew through this book last night in one sitting. It's a collection of German people's dreams during the rise of Hitler in the 30s, collected by a Jewish communist journalist who fled the country in 1939.
The Third Reich of Dreams by Charlotte Beradt In the following months, but still before the race laws went into effect (though they did not apply to this woman in any case), she had a number of long, epic dreams on the theme of noses and identity papers, furnished with numerous elaborate and sometimes realistic details. As in many modern stories, only the starting point of the dream narrative would be unreal. Another dream about papers: Relaxed and peaceful family outing. We were at a restau-rant with outdoor tables by the Havel River. Mother and I were carrying some cake in a box and a folder with our genealogy papers. Suddenly there was a scream: They're coming! Everyone there knew who "they" were and what our crime was. Run, run away! I went looking for a high-up hiding place-up in the trees? on top of a cupboard in the restaurant? Suddenly I was lying at the bottom of a big pile of dead bodies, I didn't know how they got there, but at last I'd found a good hiding place. Pure bliss, a sense of salvation, under the pile of corpses with my folder of pa-pers under my arm.
December 11, 2025 at 1:27 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
parkermolloy.com
Andrew Bird - "O Holy Night"
December 11, 2025 at 5:07 AM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
sagemistress.bsky.social
This headline isn't just *misleading*, this is a deliberate attempt to create a false narrative about life-saving medical care. Absolutely fucking disgusting.
michaelhobbes.bsky.social Michael Hobbes @michaelhobbes.bsky.social · 17d
You might think from the headline that this is a story about a trans kid suffering medical consequences from a large drug dose but nope! It is just an interview with an estranged father who is angry that his child happily transitioned.

archive.ph/Tmthz
Father's anger at girl's potentially fatal testosterone dose The child, who was 15 at the time, was given the prescription by the private GenderGP clinic after one online counselling session He has lost contact with his daughter - he does not even know what she got in her GCSEs - and now that she is 18, he no longer gets court-ordered medical updates. In the final one he learnt that she was booked in for surgery imminently. Now he drives over with birthday presents but is not allowed in. He remembers the last time he saw her, after she had started taking testosterone. Looking at his photographs, he remembers dropping her home: "When she said goodbye, her smile was the same girly shy smile she had as a little girl. Somewhere in there is my daughter."
December 10, 2025 at 10:00 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
karlykingsley.bsky.social
When I said “there are worse things than Netflix buying Warner Bros., Paramount is exactly what I meant.
December 8, 2025 at 2:50 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
popheist.com
The truth behind the film 'White Christmas' is that all the characters are afraid of dying alone and they mitigate it through song and dance.
The REAL Meaning Behind 'White Christmas' - Pop Heist
The truth behind the film 'White Christmas' is that all the characters are afraid of dying alone and they mitigate it through song and dance.
buff.ly
December 8, 2025 at 5:00 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
zohrankmamdani.bsky.social
Last week, ICE arrested and separated a father and son after a routine check-in. Six-year-old Yuanxin had just enrolled in the first grade at an elementary school in Astoria. Now he's in custody, alone. ICE won't say where. This cruelty serves no one. It must end.
December 2, 2025 at 9:16 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
espiers.bsky.social
Who would have guessed that David Sacks would be doing unethical shit in the White House? Not a single guy in that cohort who’s not a raging sociopath www.nytimes.com/2025/11/30/t...
Silicon Valley’s Man in the White House Is Benefiting Himself and His Friends
www.nytimes.com
November 30, 2025 at 4:18 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
nedraggett.bsky.social
Hell with it, I'm just going to post the whole thing here via screencap and alt text. It's Kaleb Horton, man, his writing always deserves the second read, especially since it could have just easily been lost forever like so much else. Read it, share it.
A look at forgotten Hollywood landmarks By Kaleb Horton Let's say you come in from down south, and you're looking for an unsung movie landmark. So you fly in to LAX, rent a car, blow right past Hollywood, leave Los Angeles county heading north, go over the Grapevine, gape at the monumental hills and, wow, there really is a Smokey Bear Road, then you turn off the air conditioner when the sign tells you. Once you come down the grade too fast and see the world's loneliest Denny's, you're well on your way to what you're looking for – the middle of nowhere. You're going to Kern County to find the spot where Alfred Hitchcock filmed one of the greatest scenes in movie history, the crop duster sequence from "North by Northwest." It takes place in Indiana, of course, but the Indiana road sign and the imported corn field can't deceive this Bakersfield native. The parched and desolate heat of the scene feels too much like Kern County. The scene people know off-hand — Cary Grant running from an airplane — isn't why "North by Northwest" is a classic. The film's greatness, as was often the case for Hitchcock, lies in its build-up, its suspense, its mood. The plane moment is almost anticlimax. It is those five minutes before Grant's desperate escape that constitute a mathematically perfect suspense scene. So expert is Hitchcock's hand that he creates suspense, a slow burning dread, with no camera tricks and no music in broad daylight. Grant's character is a prototypical James Bond. His perfect suit, fast wit, high-alcohol tolerance and effortless charisma have got him out of every predicament so far. In the city, among people, he has powers. Take him away from people, put him nowhere, and he's just like us — totally helpless. He has no powers: His suit is no good out here; his million-dollar tailoring and perfect haircut is just vanity now. No amount of pretending can provide escape. Here, is the one place where he can die, and he gets by on the grace of God. All he can do is wait for what's coming. So when you seek the lost landmark of this scene, you're looking for an idea as much as a place. You're on Highway 99 now, going 30 miles north of Bakersfield, looking for an unassuming patch of dirt that carries spiritual weight. The scene was filmed neart Garces Highway to the west of Delano. You'll think there's a handy exit for it. There's not. You'll probably get lost in Delano, counting on a connection. You're at once a million miles from Hollywood and a hundred miles away. It's lonely. The horizon sprawls forever like there's nothing past it. There are broken down trucks on the side of the road, plumes of smoke from faraway fires. You'll find Garces eventually. You'll pass a bar called Rosy's Place, abandoned houses, an oil field, a prison, a cemetery, a sign that says "we clean headstones," and a whole lot of gold-on-brown punctuated by an occasional trailer or car going faster than you. You're looking for where Garces meets Corcoran Road. That's where this "North by Northwest" scene was filmed. You'll get a vague idea where it is but you'll never be exactly sure, since there's little impetus for clear signage 10 miles from a prison. Maybe Corcoran Road is unlabeled. Besides, that Indiana sign and the prop cornfield haven't been there in 56 years. If you're anything like me, you'll lose the light and call it a day, unsatisfied with the route you took. You return to I-5 northbound. From the 5, you'll meet Route 46, and go through a place called Lost Hills, then back in to the location from Corcoran Road instead. That's how Hitchcock probably did it. More intuitive. Still in the middle of nowhere, but on your way to Corcoran Road, you're right next to another Hollywood landmark: Blackwells Corner, James Dean's last stop. It's a glorified Texaco, and gas is 50 cents a gallon more than it should be. They sell Jelly Bellys and '50s kitsch artifacts — plates with Marilyn Monroe's face on them, and so forth. They really figured out how to cash in on death. You don't want to stop here. But I stopped. I asked the kid at the Blackwells Corner counter how to get to Corcoran Road. He gave me a look that said "there's no reason to go there," and then wearily told me where to go anyway. I was about 8 miles from the destination. Going there is a meditative experience. You're not just going to the middle of nowhere. You're going to the perfect nowhere. Going alone, in the hypnotic heat of the Central Calfiornia Valley, you might even forget what year it is. There is no reason to believe the road would be so well preserved for half a century, intimately tied to the career of an actor born in Bristol 111 years ago, but it has been. There's an abandoned house. A barn with a cross on it. But almost nothing has changed in 56 years. At some point new lines were added on the road. There's overgrowth where there didn't used to be overgrowth. A couple discarded Budweiser cans from who knows when, but mostly it's identical. This is the same sleepy loneliness that Alfred Hitchcock used to make great art in 1959. And that may sound dull, but tranquility is the point. You stand on that dirt and there's no distraction from what's in your soul. It's an inner destination, not an outer one. I told my grandma about it when I got back to Bakersfield. She told me her Uncle Harold thought it was the prettiest road in America. And she showed me a picture of a Corcoran grade school class posing in the dirt with Grant and Hitchcock. It's just a field trip picture. The kids are fidgeting, many with arms folded, some shielding their eyes from the sun, all with obedient smiles. They'd all be in their sixties now, but they'd remember where this road is. It emphasized the ugliness of James Dean's last stop becoming a place to sell T-shirts. It's about what we preserve, and what we don't, and what we remember, and what we don't. It's easy to find shrines to morbidity and hard to find meaningful places. For those, you have to go looking.
November 26, 2025 at 9:52 PM
Reposted by Ben Van Bloem
chrisdeleon.bsky.social
lawyers posting about trump news every day
October 9, 2025 at 5:14 PM
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banalplay.bsky.social
When you just watched Fury Road and can't wait to talk about it
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · Nov 17
Trump: "They had restrictions on water. It comes down from heaven. You want to wash your hands, or like me, you wash your hair. I lather up. There's no water. I won't mention the 3rd item in the bc I always get criticized. If you don't know what I'm talking about you shouldn't be owning a McDonalds"
November 18, 2025 at 5:15 PM
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banalplay.bsky.social
America can't be fascist because I'm not doing anything about it
Tom Nichols •@radiofreetom.bsky.social • 8h Joined May '23 1. If America were fascist right now, I would not be posting here. Neither would you. Instead, I - and you - would be trying to build networks of people *offline* who can support and protect each other, in the dark, rather than yelling at the president and
November 16, 2025 at 11:29 AM