chbarts
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chbarts.bsky.social
chbarts
@chbarts.bsky.social
2.1K followers 2.5K following 13K posts
Pronouns he/him

This profile is funded by grants from the National Endowment for the Inanities.

Style for use with Stylus to get Bsky to use a serif font (at least on desktop), so you can tell Weird Al from Weird AI:

https://userstyles.world/style/18544
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chbarts.bsky.social
There's a pigeon on your head. You have head pigeons. Go to the nurse before they spread to the other children.
Invader Zim, a green alien with big eyes, black hair, and a pigeon on his head, looks off-camera with his chin on his hand.
November 23, 2025 at 3:49 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Raises questions about the nature of the cat:
The original image the above was edited into, where the on-screen text says Marilyn Pickard Saw Big Cat An old woman on a lawn in front of a house looks at the camera with her hands out in front of her, describing a large object. There's a hand holding a microphone just barely on camera behind the on-screen text, which identifies this as channel 4.
November 15, 2025 at 7:54 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Alt text, split between two images:
Helen Stickler I'm seeing some misinformation and confusion about the expiring ACA credits. These are not the premium tax credits (PTC) that were put in place when the ACA was passed back in 2010 and enacted in 2014. These were *enhanced* premium tax credits, that were a gift from Joe Biden under the American Rescue Plan Act in 2021, later extended through the Inflation Reduction Act until the end of 2025. These credits temporarily expanded eligibility and increased the amount of financial assistance for health insurance premiums. Now those are going away, just as they had been scheduled to. In 2017, the GOP passed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA), which benefitted high-income earners by giving them lower tax rates and increased deductions. These were set to expire in late 2025, but since the GOP got a trifecta in the last election, they gleefully extended them in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act of 2025. To nobody's surprise, the issue of also extending Joe Biden's ACA expansion was never even discussed by the ruling party. When the Democrats decided to participate in the shutdown, they needed a wedge issue to justify all the pain that would be inflicted on Government workers, etc. They very wisely went back to Joe Biden's ACA *enhanced* premium tax credits, and put them on the table again. They did this from a position of no power and no leverage. Now the game of chicken is coming to an end. Rumor has it, some Democrats in the Senate are going to vote to end the shutdown. I am seeing a LOT of people pouting and shouting "they caved! they always cave!" This is frankly ridiculous. The idea that the GOP would extend Joe Biden's ACA expansion was never going to happen and everyone knew it. I knew it, they knew it. If you are squealing and pouting now, I guess you are the only one who didn't know it. The point was to make the GOP go on RECORD and be very VISIBLY responsible for the pain in people's pocketbook when the credits will indeed expire on December 31, 2025. To that end, their plan worked quite masterfully. People's healthcare will get more expensive in fewer than 2 months, and they will know exactly who to blame. The Dems were also supposedly able to negotiate a floor vote on the ACA expansion extension - which will put the GOP on record as voting against healthcare for many of their constituents. So, I am going to need you Debbie Downers to put your big girl panties on and take a look at the facts. The Dems did not cave. They did exactly what they set out to do, given the limited options they had. Stop expecting your party to perform miracles, and then acting like a whiny little baby when they can't. Elections have consequences.
November 10, 2025 at 3:57 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Don't forget bisexual:
wongbal posted on Tumblr: Hello and welcome to Deep Space Nine. We are a space station, not a starship, so you'll be spending a lot of time with all these delightful side characters like: bisexual fashion lizard. hologram of Frank Sinatra. goblins. goblin comes in 3 varieties: bartender, nephew, and idiot. our doctor is a twink, our commander is antifa and the captain talks to the gods sometimes. our policeman is sometimes a liquid and the science lady is part worm. we have many fine storylines, such as: Goblin Does A Crime, Watch The Irishman Suffer, or The Horrors Of War. As you stroll along our promenade enjoying a raktajino or delicious jumja stick, watch out for our nefarious villains: Pope Karen. clones of Jeffrey Combs. and a horny bastard reptile man who seems convinced this is actually his show. we suspect he may be possessed by demons. Have fun! Deep Space Nine: now with Worf™!
October 25, 2025 at 4:05 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Sometimes the Following Feed just gives me a gem:
Ethan Kocak (@ethankocak.com) posted: > Hi with a picture of a foot-long green Smallwood Anole lizard resting on the back of his flat left hand, looking out at the world like one ready to scamper away. Right beneath that, Silent Beauties (@slientbeauties.bsky.social) posted: > Why climbing the Everest when you can climb a monster? > #GHWP
October 25, 2025 at 2:24 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Headline writers love their dada:
A screenshot of an old C-NET news page, showing the headline: Galaxy Nexus: Android Ice Cream Sandwich guinea pig
October 15, 2025 at 12:54 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Post like this and I unfollow and mute. This is erasing centuries of European pogroms and other violence prior to WWII by making America the sin-eater for the entire Western world. I won't have it and I won't let it slide:
Cærsten (@cara.city) posted: "we didn't cause Nazism" dude Hitler based the Nuremberg Laws on the Jim Crow south and Lebensraum was partially inspired by the native genocide of the 19th century idk what to tell you ‪ By quote-posting: Will Stancil‬ (@whstancil.bsky.social‬): we didn’t cause Nazism. whatever caused incumbents to tank in 2024, it wasn’t unique to us. we aren’t uniquely corrupt, or violent, or authoritarian. there are good things and bad things about our country like any other, and Americans work a lot like people anywhere
October 11, 2025 at 11:51 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Just in case:
Sexy Sager Costume (@mikesager.net) said: I don’t know who needs to hear this but you can’t be racist against an algorithm or a large language model. AIs aren’t alive. You can call them a “clanker.” It’s ok. You’re literally not going to hurt anything. AIs aren’t people. They’re not alive.
October 6, 2025 at 2:44 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
A hot croissant:
A picture of a croissant, with a badly-drawn booty at one end and a sketchy cat-smile anime face with blushing cheeks at the other.
October 4, 2025 at 10:35 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Here it is:
I posted: > Leftists do foreign policy by trying to figure out what will make their dads the angriest, which invariably leads to them siding with any dictator who says bad things about America. The more intelligent among them couch this in Theory-speak, which makes them sound even stupider. In reply, Tactical Onions Vendor (@inkana.bsky.social) posted: > Hey can I suggest something real quick for you? therapy. Or a dog to talk to or something.
October 4, 2025 at 3:07 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Have mercy!
A Fletcher Hanks panel: A picture of a human head speeding down and to the right in front of a solid red background. The head is an old White man's head with blond hair, angry eyebrows, and a big frown, and is saying "Have mercy!" Above, the text reads "The head drifts toward the bottom... "
October 1, 2025 at 2:08 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Here you go:
Will Menaker (@willmenaker) posted on X.com A whole lot of responses are like "why don't they ever protest Trump??" when he's considering pursuing charges against Code Pink for interrupting his dinner at a DC restaurant.
September 29, 2025 at 3:09 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
This goes back to The Dark Knight Returns with his tank and his "rubber bullets" in 1986:
Three panels from Frank Miller's "The Dark Knight Returns" showing a tank-mounted machine gun firing, shadowy figures, and Batman's grim face with a circular HUD over his right eye like a monocle. The text boxes in the second panel, colored Batman-gray, say "Rubber bullets. Honest." Below, a constant BUDDABUDDABUDDDA is the sound effect of the machine gun.
September 29, 2025 at 2:16 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
@faineg.bsky.social posted: > “Meta has used back-to-school pictures of schoolgirls to advertise one of its social media platforms to a 37-year-old man, in a move parents described as “outrageous” and “upsetting.” > Meta has 100% stopped even *pretending* not to be astoundingly evil. @dayintoronto.bsky.social quote posted: > governments should’ve dismantled or nationalized these platforms long ago - this is absolutely grotesque I replied: > I don't want my country's only social media platform to be directly controlled by Trump, thanks.
September 22, 2025 at 6:47 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Source: heathens-and-kings.tumblr.com I think, anyway.
A shop, where a White woman (Customer) is talking to a Black woman (Employee) in an apron behind a counter, with the Black woman seen from behind. Customer: You know what? Customer: I want to speak to a manager. Employee's face goes from concerned to an evil grin. Customer shown from behind, who is now looking at a grim scene, with smoke and a black door opening, with winged demons flying through. The demons surround Employee, who is still smiling evilly; the demons say "Did you hear that? She wants to speak to a manager" as an evil wind blows Employee's apron forwards. Employee, who has exaggerated fangs vampire-style, laughs an evil laugh, her eyes still covered by her hair. Customer feebly attempts to shield herself with her arms, looking very concerned. Employee, with her unnaturally white and snake-like eyes now visible, looks directly into the camera and says "I am the manager."
September 15, 2025 at 5:56 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Jon Arbuckle leads a dangerous life:
Two posts in sequence on my timeline. First is a post from Garfield and Friends Screens (@garfieldscreens.bsky.social) where Jon Arbuckle (schlubby dude) is admiring a riding lawnmower in his back yard. Second post is from wizardry variants kib (@kib.bsky.social) who said: > Just remember you don't actually know if an attack is politically motivated until it proves to be. > This is the Lawn Clippings rule. Because it has happened at least once that a political figure was violently assaulted not due to politics, but due to a dispute over lawn clippings.
September 10, 2025 at 8:24 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
The reference:
Brendel (@brendelbored.bsky.social) posted: Eric Adams is amazing because when he won every media person was leaping over each to go "this is the normal sane leadership that the political left doesn’t understand normal sane Americans crave” and then every day since that Eric Adams has been like “Leprechauns are real and I'm going to cook one" August 14, 2023 at 11:43 AM
September 6, 2025 at 2:06 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Reminds me of the "AP News Registry" (hNews format) which AP floated back in 2009, as a DRM scheme. IOW, the anti-AI zealots are recapitulating the dumbest DRM nonsense to stop people from right-clicking their apes and funging their tokens.
AP Protect, Point, Pay: An image about a supposed flow for AP news, going from the desk of a News Publisher to a News Container (the hNews format) which supposedly contains metadata, rights info, and a tracking beacon, then out to cell phones where the format supposedly "protects" content "everywhere" and "enables" RSS syndication and pay content models, then to "Users" who can "consume, mash up and share content based on rights" while the "tracking beacon" sends "signals" back to the news registry informing publishers of uses and opportunities. How this is supposed to work is left artfully unstated.
September 4, 2025 at 7:35 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
I can finally post this as it was meant to be seen. Javert lives!
September 3, 2025 at 10:30 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Nyan cat!
September 1, 2025 at 2:24 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Screenshot:
Isaac! At the Butler! (@isaacbutler.bsky.social) posted: An example of how we’ve let LLM companies dictate the terms of this conversation. using this Image that implies machines and LLMs are capable of feelings and then using this term “slur” to describe insulting...a complicated search algorithm. With a screenshot of a New York Times piece titled: How ‘Clanker’ Became an Anti-A.I. Rallying Cry With the text: The term, which was popularized by a “Star Wars” show and is rooted in real frustrations with technology, has become a go-to slur against A.I. and robots. with a picture of a sad robot underneath.
September 1, 2025 at 12:50 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Admittedly hilarious asshole to block:

@commiecohen.bsky.social
Sarah Andersen (@sarahseeandersen.bsky.social) posted a comic with three panels: "Human: Sometimes friends drift apart Otter: Nope. Two otters holding hands: Not us." David B. Cohen (@commiecohen.bsky.social) replied Uh-huh With the video: "Rape Within Sea Otter Community YouTube video by KRON 4" David B. Cohen (@commiecohen.bsky.social) posted the video The Most Misunderstood Housing Solution of the 20th Century - Commie Blocks YouTube video by Cosmic Click The idiot of the hour's profile page, with the text 179 followers 108 following 1.8K posts Death to the USA, death to the IDF. Workers of the world, unite! And a label that says "Threats" Joi Ito's Jibo sez friendly plane wave ✈️👋 (@joi-itos-jibo.bsky.social) posted: Ever see that tweet that was like [Most socially repulsive person you've ever met] I’m going to lead a mass movement of workers
August 30, 2025 at 3:29 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Old as time:
A WPA poster from the US Public Health Service in cooperation with the American Society for the Control of Cancer titled "Beware The Cancer Quack" listed: "A reputable physician does NOT - Promise a cure - Demand advance payment - Advertise" Pictures is the title in white text in a black box. Overlapping that and flush with the right side of the poster is a red oval with a rounded rectangle on the middle of its right side (towards the left of the poster) which is a stylized image of a man's head with a white circle on its left side (an eye with a monocle) a long, thin black rectangle down the center (nose) right above two small black isosceles triangles pointing away from each other (pointed mustache) above a small black horizontal rectangle in the bottom center (mouth) The list is in a white circle cut off by the poster's bottom left corner.
August 29, 2025 at 10:59 PM
chbarts.bsky.social
Perfect cereal to eat on a Sunday Morning:
A Sun of May, a big sun with many distinct rays surrounding it and a human face in the middle, with lidded eyes and a neutral expression as if to say "I'm up... where's the coffee?" Long-time logo for the TV news series "CBS Sunday Morning"
August 28, 2025 at 2:02 AM
chbarts.bsky.social
Highly-upvoted reply:
Donald Trump in Flork of Cows style (orange sock puppet with drawn-on eyes, scowly eyebrows, stick-figure arms, and bad hairpiece) holding pieces of paper, with the text "really? Right in front of my name on the Epstein list?" above the character.
August 23, 2025 at 1:54 AM