Nate 'still spooky' Levin-Aspenson (he/him)
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natel-a.bsky.social
Nate 'still spooky' Levin-Aspenson (he/him)
@natel-a.bsky.social
660 followers 480 following 950 posts
Writer and fundraiser by trade. Abolition is the only way forward.
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natel-a.bsky.social
every time I open a new google doc
the 'shut up about the sun' meme but it says 'shut up about document tabs'
November 10, 2025 at 8:10 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
It really is a clear look at the heart of the current republican party that Newby remembers his inability to defend his own beliefs as an attempt to 'indoctrinate him'
www.propublica.org/article/paul...
Newby has said he had a crisis of faith at Duke when a professor challenged the literal truth of the Bible and he felt unprepared to defend it. He would later call his years at the college and then the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill’s law school a “failed attempt to indoctrinate me” with liberal and secular beliefs.
October 30, 2025 at 5:32 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
Computer: enhance
Asha Rangappa posting "We’re in a moment now where it would be worth people taking three hours to watch Gandhi, particularly the scene of the salt march. There is value to making the brutality of your opponent so plain as day that no one can argue with it. The clarity of that brought down an empire" Asha's profile, which reads: "Fmr FBI Special Agent, lawyer, @JacksonYale. Tiger(ish) mom. Legal and national security analyst. Editor @just_security. Steam mop influencer. Views mine." Fmr FBI Special Agent national security analyst
October 7, 2025 at 2:27 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
The cover to Detroit: become human but I have scribbled out human and typed in 'STUPID'
September 6, 2025 at 2:40 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
We used to be a real country
a before/during set of two photos of richard spencer immediately before and while being punched in the head, lol
August 18, 2025 at 4:35 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
a bunch of men: *make themselves politically and socially repulsive*
women: *are repulsed*
the same men:
the surprised pikachu face, with some angry eyebrows that I drew on
August 13, 2025 at 6:09 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
A wordless picture of Picard screaming that there are four lights
August 12, 2025 at 2:43 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
All anyone has to do is use the word 'darting' to legally strike and kill a child with their car.
On the way home, Legend stepped off a grass median dividing a four-lane road and was hit and killed by an S.U.V. driver. The driver, a 76-year-old woman, said she did not see him until he darted in front of her vehicle, the police report notes. (The driver faced no charges.) Mr. Jenkins, still on the phone with the older boy, rushed over.
August 6, 2025 at 7:50 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
So much of the current fascist/reactionary backlash is a consumerist entitlement conditioning to angrily lash out at anything that would ever make you have to think or feel bad.
A guardian headline called "Meet the AI vegans | Arwa Mahdawi" "They are choosing to abstain from using artificial intelligence for environmental, ethical, and personal reasons. Maybe they have a point, writes guardian columnist Arwa..."
August 6, 2025 at 2:46 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
Never would have guessed that Matthew Mcfadyen is also a loser in real life
The Harry Potter audio book cast announcement, including dr. House, Matthew Mcfadyen, riz Ahmed and Michelle Gomez; Cush Jumbo to narrate, release dates set. The byline is from Denise Petski August 5th 6:00 am.
August 5, 2025 at 7:12 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
I'm going to become the joker
jessica.substack.com/p/kevin-stit...
We don’t know yet, but you can be sure that Oklahoma will weaponize the ambiguity. Here’s the kicker from Stitt’s order: “OHCA [the Oklahoma Health Care Authority] shall require, as a condition of participation in the SoonerCare program, that all providers submit a signed attestation disclosing whether they or any related entities engage in abortion-related activities.” That’s right, the state wants providers to sign an anti-abortion loyalty oath—a contract promising that they and anyone they’re connected to has nothing at all to do with abortion.
August 2, 2025 at 5:34 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
...I know, man.... I know
a line from my gmail inbox from Toggle track that says Your Timer is still running in Toggle Track
July 30, 2025 at 4:04 AM
natel-a.bsky.social
me every time I open discord
gabe from the office (US) saying SHUT UP ABOUT ORBS. SHUT UP ABOUT ORBS!
July 23, 2025 at 6:23 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
Ok this theory has legs though
This provides a freedom-based argument for workers cooperatives, public institutions, and a strong public sector. That these institutions create barriers to humiliation is one reason why the right opposes them. For instance, I've often suspected the real bone-deep hatred many American conservatives have for the DMV is because their staff have greater job security and are hence harder to humiliate. Their stereotype of a DMV worker is of a middle-aged-to-older Black woman who will not tolerate being disrespected. The mere thought of this is enraging to them.
July 21, 2025 at 2:56 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
This is very apt analysis but because it's liberal currents they of course have to include a moment where it's the entire left's fault that some people are annoying
There's a certain type of lefty (who will be familiar enough to anyone on politics social media), who has some status markers—college educated, usually white and male — but is downwardly mobile relative to their parents, yet still utterly convinced of their own importance and intelligence. To them, the cause is a chance to cosplay as the high-school bully they wish they could've been. They are truly pathetic. Again, this isn't all, or even most, left-populists, but they can often be the loudest ones. The left could do a better job not allowing itself to be defined by them.
July 21, 2025 at 2:53 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
We missed a crucial juncture at the Abu Graig inflection point and now the task of fixing this shit will be so much more difficult
And they have been remarkably successful. The torture at Abu Ghraib was, in large part, about humiliation. That coming to light was a leak, and people were shocked. Now similar degradation in 'deportations' is being intentionally broadcast for the entertainment of half the country.
July 21, 2025 at 2:49 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
James Doohan as Scotty from Star Trek the original series
July 20, 2025 at 6:03 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
that one picture of Miyazaki looking exhausted with an unlit cigarette hanging from his mouth. you know the one
July 11, 2025 at 2:42 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
Same energy
the merchant from resident evil 4
June 28, 2025 at 9:47 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
People are allowed to like what they like
an illustration of plato's allegory of the cave
June 26, 2025 at 5:05 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
I agree that something similar could happen eventually, but I don't think it's a good thing. Human-written text as luxury good for a niche audience is plausible if AI technology becomes sustainable, but yuck that sounds bad
ROOSE I have a somewhat more optimistic take on this: I think that yes, people will lose opportunities and jobs because of this technology, but I wonder if it’s going to catalyze some counterreaction. I’ve been thinking a lot recently about the slow-food movement and the farm-to-table movement, both of which came up in reaction to fast food. Fast food had a lot going for it — it was cheap, it was plentiful, you could get it in a hurry. But it also opened up a market for a healthier, more artisanal way of doing things. And I wonder if something similar will happen in creative industries — a kind of creative renaissance for things that feel real and human and aren’t just outputs from some A.I. company’s slop machine.
June 17, 2025 at 4:56 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
I don't think this is the best analogy but we're getting somewhere with the analysis here. But we still have a fundamental disagreement on what the mushroom cloud is
ROOSE I think so too. Look, I am not an A.I. Pollyanna or even, on some days, much of an optimist. I think there are real harms these systems are capable of and much bigger harms they will be capable of in the future. But I think addressing those harms requires having a clear view of the technology and what it can and can’t do. Sometimes when I hear people arguing about how A.I. systems are stupid and useless, it’s almost as if you had an antinuclear movement that didn’t admit fission was real — like, looking at a mushroom cloud over Los Alamos, and saying, “They’re just raising money, this is all hype.” Instead of, “Oh, my God, this thing could blow up the world.”
June 17, 2025 at 4:53 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
And of course: is it a revolutionary new technology? Or do capitalists just want a good way to control labor power
NEWTON And let’s just say: If you’re a therapist, this is maybe not the best time to double your rates.
June 17, 2025 at 4:49 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
Is it a revolutionary new technology? Or is real healthcare just too expensive
ROOSE I guess it’s time to pivot to modern art. Another person I know just started using ChatGPT as her therapist after her regular human therapist doubled her rates.
June 17, 2025 at 4:47 PM
natel-a.bsky.social
Is it a revolutionary new technology? Or does Google search just suck now
ROOSE A.I. has essentially replaced Google for me for basic questions: What setting do I put this toaster oven on to make a turkey melt? How do I stop weeds from growing on my patio? I use it for interior decorating — I’ll upload a photo of a room in my house and say, “Give this room a glow-up, tell me what furniture to buy and how to arrange it and generate the ‘after’ picture.” A friend of mine just told me that they now talk to ChatGPT voice mode on their commute in their car — instead of listening to a podcast, they’ll just open it up and say, “Teach me something about modern art,” or whatever.
June 17, 2025 at 4:47 PM