Sam Ball
@sfball93.bsky.social
“But our democracy might work a bit better if we recognized that all of us possess values that are worthy of respect: if liberals at least acknowledged that the recreational hunter feels the same way about his gun as they feel about their library books… (1/2)
December 7, 2025 at 1:14 AM
“But our democracy might work a bit better if we recognized that all of us possess values that are worthy of respect: if liberals at least acknowledged that the recreational hunter feels the same way about his gun as they feel about their library books… (1/2)
Reposted by Sam Ball
“Run faster. History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe. Education helps but it’s never enough. You also must run.” - Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
June 13, 2025 at 8:11 PM
“Run faster. History is a constant race between invention and catastrophe. Education helps but it’s never enough. You also must run.” - Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
“Most believe that a satisfactory future requires a return to an idealized past, a past which never in fact existed.” - Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
June 13, 2025 at 8:05 PM
“Most believe that a satisfactory future requires a return to an idealized past, a past which never in fact existed.” - Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
“The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria.” - Moneo (from God Emperor of Dune, 1981)
June 13, 2025 at 4:38 PM
“The undeserving maintain power by promoting hysteria.” - Moneo (from God Emperor of Dune, 1981)
“You cannot do wrong in the name of right.” - Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
June 11, 2025 at 8:28 PM
“You cannot do wrong in the name of right.” - Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
“The difference between a good administrator and a bad one is about five heartbeats. Good administrators make immediate choices…
May 30, 2025 at 11:20 PM
“The difference between a good administrator and a bad one is about five heartbeats. Good administrators make immediate choices…
“Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.” - Scytale (Dune Messiah, 1969)
May 30, 2025 at 12:00 AM
“Belief can be manipulated. Only knowledge is dangerous.” - Scytale (Dune Messiah, 1969)
“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong - faster and faster and faster.
May 29, 2025 at 11:58 PM
“When religion and politics travel in the same cart, the riders believe nothing can stand in their way. Their movement becomes headlong - faster and faster and faster.
“A world is supported by four things… the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous, and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.”
- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Dune, 1965)
- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Dune, 1965)
May 29, 2025 at 11:55 PM
“A world is supported by four things… the learning of the wise, the justice of the great, the prayers of the righteous, and the valor of the brave. But all of these are as nothing without a ruler who knows the art of ruling.”
- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Dune, 1965)
- Reverend Mother Gaius Helen Mohiam (Dune, 1965)
“Scratch a conservative and you find someone who prefers the past over any future. Scratch a liberal and find a closet aristocrat… Liberal governments always develop into aristocracies.”
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
May 29, 2025 at 6:11 PM
“Scratch a conservative and you find someone who prefers the past over any future. Scratch a liberal and find a closet aristocrat… Liberal governments always develop into aristocracies.”
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
“Militant missionary religions can share this illusion of the ‘proud past,’ but few understand the ultimate peril to humankind - that false sense of freedom from responsibility for your own actions.”
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
May 29, 2025 at 6:09 PM
“Militant missionary religions can share this illusion of the ‘proud past,’ but few understand the ultimate peril to humankind - that false sense of freedom from responsibility for your own actions.”
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
“What good are laws and prisons when the breaking of the law is not a sin? … Prisons are needed only to provide the illusion that courts and the police are effective. They’re kind of job insurance.”
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
May 29, 2025 at 6:02 PM
“What good are laws and prisons when the breaking of the law is not a sin? … Prisons are needed only to provide the illusion that courts and the police are effective. They’re kind of job insurance.”
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
“Police always observe the criminals prosper. It takes a pretty dull policeman to miss the fact that the position of authority is the most proper criminal position available.”
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
May 29, 2025 at 5:59 PM
“Police always observe the criminals prosper. It takes a pretty dull policeman to miss the fact that the position of authority is the most proper criminal position available.”
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
- Leto Atreides II, God Emperor of Dune
Reposted by Sam Ball
United Healthcare is laying off 30,000 employees, and offering 7-week severance packages to people who voluntarily resign.
February 18, 2025 at 1:34 AM
United Healthcare is laying off 30,000 employees, and offering 7-week severance packages to people who voluntarily resign.
Americans want “Freedom.” But some want freedom FROM evil, others want freedom FOR evil. And some don’t even know which side they’re on.
February 14, 2025 at 3:05 PM
Americans want “Freedom.” But some want freedom FROM evil, others want freedom FOR evil. And some don’t even know which side they’re on.
Putting down a beloved pet rips a hole through you. They leave behind them the shadow of an indescribable kind of love, and though the shadow fades with time, the paw prints they leave on our hearts last until we meet them on the other side.
February 13, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Putting down a beloved pet rips a hole through you. They leave behind them the shadow of an indescribable kind of love, and though the shadow fades with time, the paw prints they leave on our hearts last until we meet them on the other side.
“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
- Historian Timothy Snyder
- Historian Timothy Snyder
February 8, 2025 at 8:48 PM
“Most of the power of authoritarianism is freely given. In times like these, individuals think ahead about what a more repressive government will want, and then offer themselves without being asked. A citizen who adapts in this way is teaching power what it can do."
- Historian Timothy Snyder
- Historian Timothy Snyder