Firsk.bsky.social
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firsk.bsky.social
Firsk.bsky.social
@firsk.bsky.social
510 followers 560 following 2.2K posts
Sailor, entrepreneur (electronic instrumentation), designer, woodworker, boat builder, potter.
Pacific Northwest resident, outdoorsy, classical liberal.
Parent of an adult trans child.
Date from the final days of the Truman administration.
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firsk.bsky.social
Perfect framing- please read.

Sooner or later everything- the country, the world, all depend on those who make things, build, create.

We do not depend on the grifters or those who just trade dollars. But they can harm the makers and builders.

The Grift Bubble open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
November 20, 2025 at 7:04 AM
firsk.bsky.social
SNAP has funds to continue, even under shutdown.

There is decades of strong evidence that SNAP / Food Stamp program returns vastly more to the economy and national well-being than the relatively small cost.

And still Republican's can't wait to kill it.
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
October 28, 2025 at 6:35 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Not a majority. Way too many, but not a majority.
October 25, 2025 at 6:10 PM
firsk.bsky.social
No, the Boomers Did Not Take It All - The Reagan / Republican supply side mythology screwed us all over. prospect.org/2025/10/21/n...
October 21, 2025 at 5:34 PM
firsk.bsky.social
The most populous states need to take the lead to protect the country from the tyranny of a delusional minority.
www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
October 15, 2025 at 7:35 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Excellent point- media (hey, NYT) needs to refer to propaganda as what it is, lies told to create false understanding and confusion.

MAGA Implodes over Kristi Noem’s “Stare Down” with Man in Chicken Suit
open.substack.com/pub/newrepub...
October 12, 2025 at 11:41 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Portland does have a rebellious spirit. This picture, which I took years ago near Reed College, always typified this to me.
October 11, 2025 at 7:32 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Well worth reading, looking at how the economic and cultural powerhouses among states can make much of the Trump administration's idiocy irrelevant, and fight back using their very real power.
CA, OR, and WA already are working together in meaningful ways re. vaccine policies.
October 6, 2025 at 5:48 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Hope and realistic optimism, not negativity. And young people. I has worked in other countries, it will here.

www.nytimes.com/2025/10/02/o...
October 5, 2025 at 6:52 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Instead of vague claims of “skyrocketing costs”, how about what Sen. Warnock has done for GA- A simple chart showing specific increases. Specific numbers.

DEM's could even make an online calculator for ALL states to show people what Republican policies will cost THEM, as enrollment is coming up.
October 4, 2025 at 7:22 PM
firsk.bsky.social
I knew coal had been in decline for 100 years, but not how drastically coal employment had decreased (while production increased) since the 1950's due to strip mining techniques.

And it's still not cost competitive.

Fossil Fuels and Fossilized Minds open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
As you can see in the chart above, there was an epic decline in coal employment between 1950 and the 2000s, from half a million miners to around 80,000. But this employment decline didn’t reflect an economy turning away from coal. In fact, use of coal to generate electricity rose steadily over the whole period, peaking in 2008:
October 1, 2025 at 1:30 AM
firsk.bsky.social
What would Theodore say?
"The President is merely the most important among a large number of public servants. He should be supported or opposed exactly to the degree which is warranted by his good conduct or bad conduct, his efficiency or inefficiency in rendering loyal, able, and disinterested service to the Nation as a whole. Therefore it is absolutely necessary that there should be full liberty to tell the truth about his acts, and this means that it is exactly necessary to blame him when he does wrong as to praise him when he does right. Any other attitude in an American citizen is both base and servile. To announce that there must be no criticism of the President, or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong, is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable to the American public. Nothing but the truth should be spoken about him or any one else. But it is even more important to tell the truth, pleasant or unpleasant, about him than about any one else." — Theodore Roosevelt, in the Kansas City Star, May 7, 1918
September 20, 2025 at 6:48 PM
firsk.bsky.social
A realistic, data based picture of political violence in the US.
www.nytimes.com/2025/09/16/o...
September 16, 2025 at 5:37 PM
firsk.bsky.social
What a week. Misattribution of motives for Kirk shooting.

Lots to be concerned about, but to me the most concerning is the Pentagon / Hegseth setting up the military structures for suppressing voting in blue cities for the midterms.
September 12, 2025
open.substack.com/pub/heatherc...
September 13, 2025 at 7:53 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Good thoughts. No-paywall link. www.nytimes.com/2025/09/07/o...
September 7, 2025 at 6:05 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Specifics on tearing down the CDC- what it means for all of us:
wapo.st/4mJAzkj
Now, though, under the current administration, public health data and lab infrastructure are eroding, making Americans less prepared for all health threats. With the United States separating from the World Health Organization, flu sample submissions from abroad have decreased by more than 70 percent — meaning we don’t know which viruses should be targeted in the next flu shot. Data about covid-19 has decreased by over 60 percent — so we might not know if a threatening new variant is emerging. Polio lab submissions have completely stopped: We will not be able to stop polio at its source before it lands on American soil. We are not ready for emerging health threats, and it’s only getting worse.
September 3, 2025 at 4:32 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Indirect costs of tariffs are massive- loss of trust & reduced economic activity.
We have always manufactured in the US. But high tariffs (taxes) on our components are forcing us to look at producing in other countries.

Trump Is Losing All His Trade Wars, Badly
open.substack.com/pub/braddelo...
August 23, 2025 at 7:19 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Also lived through this time, and agree 100%. Now is a more existential crisis for America. And it's time to fight back.

Which Side Are We On? open.substack.com/pub/fallows/...
August 23, 2025 at 7:08 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Another powerful read from Timothy Snyder:
Guest, Host, Ghost open.substack.com/pub/snyder/p...
July 9, 2025 at 4:45 PM
firsk.bsky.social
$ spent on Medicaid health care generate more future taxes paid- the program turns a profit for the government over time.

Investment in public science generates vastly outsized returns over time.

Cutting these things makes America smaller, weaker, and poorer.
open.substack.com/pub/paulkrug...
July 5, 2025 at 6:40 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Little city of Bothell, WA.
Close to a mile of highway lined with joyful, angry protesters. Lots of honking and waving in support from passing cars.
WAY bigger than I would have expected.
June 14, 2025 at 8:32 PM
firsk.bsky.social
They suggested that Xi was not in a hurry to speak with Trump, as there was not much to discuss. Instead, Xi was focused on capitalizing on Trump’s withdrawal from the world stage to expand China's connections worldwide.
Why Trump Is So Popular in China open.substack.com/pub/michaelm...
May 23, 2025 at 7:04 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Interesting perspective
May 21, 2025 at 5:34 PM
firsk.bsky.social
This exactly describes our situation as a mfg. of electronic instruments in the US.

Designed, assembled, firmware developed in the US. Tariffs on $75 worth of parts with no US source will destroy $100's of US value added.

We can’t compete with this added tax.
open.substack.com/pub/braddelo...
May 8, 2025 at 7:12 PM
firsk.bsky.social
Well, when you put it like that...
Trump's brain is gone open.substack.com/pub/aaronrup...
May 2, 2025 at 8:57 PM