Elendel
elendel.bsky.social
Elendel
@elendel.bsky.social
Reposted by Elendel
It’s always fun to see the clips of the Sunday political shows because you get to go “yep the news lets people lie to them for an hour and airs it”
November 30, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Elendel
"Don't follow illegal orders" would be more meaningful if Democrats had prosecuted literally any of the prominent war criminals of the last 30 years instead of, you know, fucking campaigning with them
November 30, 2025 at 3:21 AM
Reposted by Elendel
When Howard Dean was the Democratic frontrunner for President, he was disqualified, by the media, for yelling "Yeah!" once.

At some point we just have to admit that mainstream media sources are biased.
Remember in 2000 when Al Gore was repeatedly misquoted as having said he invented the internet and that was seen the eyes of many as disqualifying him from office? Simpler times. Today, Trump makes up lies equivalent to "I invented the internet" 30 times a week and no one bats an eye. Good job media
November 30, 2025 at 4:53 AM
Reposted by Elendel
This thread is so fucking infuriating and it’s just one more example of how it’s not just having AI rammed down our throats that’s making things shittier, it’s that the people at the top of these companies have no connection to the product they sell, do not understand it, and couldn’t care less
Let me give some insight on this, as a producer in the dub industry who worked with major streamers, who's witnessed first-hand where this push for AI is coming from.

tl;dr: Only CEOs want this. Tell them how much you hate it. Be loud, email, call, @, post. You will kill this.

🧵⬇️
The only thing less human than these AI dub performances is the decision to sign off on them

A company this big can pay human actors a decent wage, not produce slop that intentionally removes the human element.
November 30, 2025 at 5:03 PM
Reposted by Elendel
I know this is correct, but it’s also really hard to sit with when those of us who STUDIED FUCKING HISTORY WERE SOUNDING THE ALARM THE ENTIRE TIME SINCE GUANTANAMO OPENED UP AGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH
A running theme of Trump II is cautious, level-headed, mainstream, career professional experts sounding existential alarms about how we aren't panicking nearly enough.
I know you already know, but for other folks who don't, Goldsmith was previously head of OLC, is a genuinely brilliant mind on executive authority and separation of powers, and is usually very cautious about making claims this unqualified and direct. That he is saying it so starkly is v significant
November 29, 2025 at 6:39 AM
Reposted by Elendel
the hardest part of writing politically charged fiction is that a good villain needs to be complex, cool and about as right as the protagonist; while evil people in real life are lame, cruel, childish morons motivated by greed or not wanting to look at minorities
November 29, 2025 at 8:04 AM
Reposted by Elendel
Who could have predicted that the Obama administration doing nothing to punish the banks in 2009 would have led to them behaving exactly the same less than 2 decades later
"Economists pulled back on bearish takes for Oracle"

Morgan Stanley yesterday:
"The price on the 5 year credit default swaps is at risk of toppling a record set in 2008 as concerns over the company’s borrowing binge to finance its AI ambitions continue to spur heavy hedging by banks and investors"
Economists pulled back on bearish takes for Oracle, fueling a stock rebound for Ellison’s firm while returning billions to his net worth.
November 27, 2025 at 9:27 PM
Reposted by Elendel
i think we have to get off the defensive on immigration

it's not just necessary, it's good! - & the easier it is, the greater its benefits
November 28, 2025 at 1:23 PM
Reposted by Elendel
Don't fine ICE, put ICE agents who did crimes in jail.

Don't fine companies, put CEOs who gave the president obvious bribes in jail.

And so on.
November 28, 2025 at 6:15 PM
Reposted by Elendel
The aim should be for individual, not institutional, accountability.

Did a university obviously violate the first amendment rights of its faculty to suck up to Trump? Don't seek to fine the university, *seek to jail its president and trustees.*

People make decisions, people bear consequences.
November 28, 2025 at 6:14 PM
Reposted by Elendel
Awful lot of war crimes on the feed today.
November 28, 2025 at 7:29 PM
Reposted by Elendel
Would vote for anyone who proposes doing something even half as good as this. Desperate for some backbone.
“In 2029 we will rebuild the White House and pay for it by seizing assets from Trump, his family, and all of his companies and organizations. We publicize the name of every contractor involved with this project and permanently ban them as corporate entities and individuals from public contracts.”
Trump fighting with his architect about wanting to build a ballroom bigger than the actual White House feels very on brand

wapo.st/4rqrqA2
November 28, 2025 at 8:32 PM
Reposted by Elendel
The last few years have been an endless series of “somebody could have done something heroic yet did the exact opposite instead.”
yeah it’s bad that Lizza has been sitting on this for so long but also how cursory and inept was that Vox investigation that not only managed to miss the biggest scandal in the history of American political journalism but affirmatively exonerated her bsky.app/profile/bkel...
So the editor of New York Magazine said there was no bias or ethical problems with Olivia's articles?

Does he still think that?

They should retract all of her stories
November 26, 2025 at 10:59 PM
Reposted by Elendel
I need everybody to read this and understand what’s going on. These are spouses of US citizens in the country legally. They have entry clearance and green cards, they’ve passed background checks and have no criminal records. ICE is taking them anyway.

Gift link:

www.nytimes.com/2025/11/26/u...
Green Card Interviews End in Handcuffs for Spouses of U.S. Citizens
www.nytimes.com
November 26, 2025 at 8:40 PM
Reposted by Elendel
the decline and fall of the american republic in two headlines
November 26, 2025 at 4:52 PM
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The problem with ICE is not that it's targeting people who aren't criminals. The problem with ICE is that it's an unaccountable secret deportation police. It cannot be reformed under a better president. It can be made less terrible, but the instrument of repression remains for the next tyrant.
November 26, 2025 at 5:04 PM
Reposted by Elendel
A package hasn't "shipped" if you've only "created the label"
November 25, 2025 at 3:02 PM
Reposted by Elendel
I'm hardly the only one, but I've been warning against the 'warrior' language and symbolism for years (foreignpolicy.com/2021/04/19/u...)
November 24, 2025 at 8:05 PM
Reposted by Elendel
I cannot agree enough.

It’s no coincidence anarchism has been equated with random chaotic violence. It’s imperative that power never let the masses understand what is possible.
The feds target Anarchists because they know that if Americans really understood what capital-A Anarchy is all about, we'd take to it like ducks to water.
November 24, 2025 at 12:08 AM
Reposted by Elendel
Pretty remarkable that Trump has installed someone on the Saudi dole — Jared Kushner collects millions in fees from the Saudis every year — in a key role for America's most sensitive and consequential foreign policy negotiations (Gaza, Ukraine), and it is largely TREATED AS A NON-STORY
November 23, 2025 at 11:33 PM
Reposted by Elendel
One fascinating and yet expected thing is that none of the big foreign accounts pretending to be American are left of center, or even anti-Trump. Not a single one. Says something about the economics and geopolitics of political grifting
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 11:08 PM
Reposted by Elendel
it’s so weird to me how so many liberals are more willing to blame mental illness for trump’s actions than the man being the biggest piece of shit human being on this side of the mississippi
November 23, 2025 at 9:35 PM
Reposted by Elendel
If I’m understanding this correctly, X is owned by a white nationalist who pays poor people of color in developing countries to pretend to be working class white Americans to scare other white Americans into being afraid poor people of color from developing countries are going to ruin America?
November 23, 2025 at 7:30 PM
Reposted by Elendel
Just a friendly reminder as we go into the holidays:

Folks don't have to explain to you why they don't drink.

If you offer them a drink and they decline, don't ask them why. It's not your business.

Just offer them something without alcohol to drink instead. And move on.
November 23, 2025 at 8:04 PM
Reposted by Elendel
Trump's domestic Gestapo raided a job site, then handcuffed a US citizen born in Raleigh NC -- even after being shown the guy's REAL ID, which is only available to US citizens and LPRs

CBP+ICE will ignore your identifying documents when it suits their racism

www.newsobserver.com/news/local/a...
November 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM