MTBinDurham

@mtbindurham.bsky.social

211 Followers 318 Following

Durmite, pain in the ass. Reconstituting this handle from birdsite after period of dormancy for purposes of posting about sporting things, politics, religion, vulgarity, music, antifascism, and horrible, horrible puns. Avi: Biscuits + Banjos fest

A croft worker stands at a barbed wire fence with cliffs in the background. A ewe and two lambs look on from the other side of the fence.

A weather forecast for Monday 3/23 (high 80 low 39) and Tuesday 3/24 (high 55 low 36)

Still from Rocketman with the Elton John character in a car in a gigantic pink feather ensemble and yellow and red sunglasses, with a man in normal clothes looking on, somewhat subdued.

Nancy Mace: What Democrats Understand That We Don’t

4 min read

Cover art for They Might Be Giants album Flood

Using the lofty language that has typified Mr. Musk’s A.I. dreams for more than a decade, he told employees that he wanted to build systems that were “maximally truth-seeking” while previewing plans to build a Microsoft competitor called Macrohard.

An animated GIF from the movie the Pink Panther Strikes Again. Inspector Clouseau and Cato back into the same room from opposite sides, holding staffs as weapons. They circle each other with their backs to each other, not realizing the other is there.

A still from the notoriously bad B movie, Manos, The Hands of Fate. An actor wearing a black robe with giant red hands on them stands with his arms stretched out.

I think there has been a war of the imagination over the last several years. I was thinking a lot about what there might be to be optimistic about and I came to the conclusion that this feeling of hopelessness that everybody has is a manufactured product, and that’s what Neo-Liberalism is really about. Neo-Liberalism isn’t just an economic program, it’s a political program designed to produce hopelessness and kill any future alternatives."

David Graeber

Gif of three animated dogs from the show Bluey riding bicycles with headbands, leg warmers, big hair waves, and other 80s styles. The caption reads, "THIS WAS THE 80'S, MAN!"

The death toll on American roads is over 40,000 a year. We had just over 1,600, in a population around one-fifth of that in the US, and with a road network that has far fewer wide, straight roads. Their road-death toll is around five times ours per head of population. We could do better, but we could do a whole lot worse.

Mr. Trump’s appeal isn’t rooted in policy; it’s rooted in style. He uses delusional bravado to cosplay as a rebel against a broken system that both parties helped to rig. The Democratic establishment’s timid, survivalist politics can’t compete with that. You can’t beat an immoral agent of chaos with risk aversion. You beat him with moral clarity — the kind that’s willing to sacrifice corporate donations, political comfort and maybe even your own career for the sake of the greater good. Mr. Trump doesn’t win because people love his ideas. He wins because people stop believing in what Democrats have to offer.

Their panic implies that the education credentials we trust for any other candidate are now suspicious for an ungrateful minority. We cannot trust that minority’s political prescriptions without peering into the core of that person’s racial identity. That’s where we think the “real” them is, in a set of murky loyalties that could turn on America at the drop of a dime. Divining Mamdani’s race is a way to see past his pretty-standard-for-a-politician upbringing and to point to the “something” in Mamdani that makes him untrustworthy.

When both sides of the political spectrum share an obsession with interrogating one’s racial purity, maybe it’s time to confront an uncomfortable truth: A lot of us are exactly who Donald Trump believes that we are.

Hebrews 13

13Let mutual love continue. 2Do not neglect to show hospitality to strangers, for by doing that some have entertained angels without knowing it. 3Remember those who are in prison, as though you were in prison with them; those who are being tortured, as though you yourselves were being tortured.*

I am a Democrat from California. Generation X! I like to express myself by creating images (also known as Memes’). I love animals and plants. I block 🚫 people that try private chats with me (mostly scammers anyways.) jerks and creeps!

Meme image: "ooh, self-burn! Those are rare!"

The giant robot Gort, from the 1951 movie The Day the Earth Stood Still, standing outside the flying saucer

At the dances I was one of the most untiring and gayest. One evening a cousin of Sasha, a young boy, took me aside. With a grave face, as if he were about to announce the death of a dear comrade, he whispered to me that it did not behoove an agitator to dance. Certainly not with such reckless abandon, anyway. It was undignified for one who was on the way to become a force in the anarchist movement. My frivolity would only hurt the Cause.
I grew furious at the impudent interference of the boy. I told him to mind his own business. I was tired of having the Cause constantly thrown into my face. I did not believe that a Cause which stood for a beautiful ideal, for anarchism, for release and freedom from convention and prejudice, should demand the denial of life and joy. I insisted that our Cause could not expect me to become a nun and that the movement would not be turned into a cloister. If it meant that, I did not want it. "I want freedom, the right to self-expression, everybody's right to beautiful, radiant things." Anarchism meant that to me, and I would live it in spite of the whole world — prisons, persecution, everything. Yes, even in spite of the condemnation of my own closest comrades I would live my beautiful ideal. (p. 56)

Nobody in the Democratic establishment is quite so delusional that they think the party is doing great. Everyone knows there is a need for change and yet they seem keen to sabotage anyone who might bring that change. Instead of rallying around fresh talent like Mamdani that can clearly mobilize young voters, the Democrats are mulling a $20m plan to try to manufacture a “Joe Rogan of the left” who can connect with young men, rather than support an authentic grassroots candidate who is already connecting with them.

Will centrist interests prevail in New York? We won’t know until, at the very earliest, late on primary night, 24 June. Whatever happens, though, you can bet that Democrats will continue to do their very best to kneecap anyone who wants to drag them way from their obsession with doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.

Star wars meme.
First panel has young Anakin saying "If they can do this to a Senator, they can do it to anyone."

Second Padme, smiling: "So what' the Plan?"

Third: an image of Chuck Schumer

Fourth: Padme looking startled

post from Eli Clifton (@EliClifton)

Picture of Chuck Shumer. Caption"My job," Chuck Schumer told Bret Stephens, "is to keep the left pro-Israel."

The job of a U.S. Senator is to maintain support for a foreign country with his left-wing constituents?

link to nyt article

A cardboard box top, fairly tattered, has “ICE HANDS OFF OUR NEIGHBORS” in red magic marker. A hand holds it up with a 4 lane highway running under it in the background.

An image of a car driver's console with the steering wheel missing. Caption says "Very funny, Jesus. Give it back." From bsky user @uncleduke1969.bsky.social‬

Speech balloon from Girl Genius. Text reads "Oh. Oh, MY. Can... Can it be CHRISTMAS?"

Textless still from the Simpsons. Homer is smiling and explaining something to Bart.

"You're connected to thousands of years of wisdom, people learning how to live in cooperation with the land and hopefully improve it," he says. Looking out into the distance, Cooper says, "You are getting that wisdom from your local community. The people that farm or garden are very interesting, very resourceful, very astute."

Oblique shot of granite steps and front arches of First Presbyterian Church in Durham, NC, festooned with rainbow banners, wraps, and bunting for Pride Month. Children and adults can be seen working to decorate the steps.

Still from North of North. Colin and Millie are sitting outside with winter gear on, caption reads, "The heart wants what the heart wants."

Shot of a printed version of the NRSV translation of the Christian Bible, turned to the first page of the book if the Prophet Habakkuk. The focused text reads:

O Lord, how long shall I cry for help,
And you will not listen?
Or cry to you “Violence!” and you will not save?
Why do you make me see wrong-doing and look at trouble?
Destruction and violence are before me; strife and contention arise.
So the law becomes slack and justice never prevails. The wicked surround the righteous —therefore judgement comes forth perverted.

(Matthew)=> 🏳️‍🌈🇿🇦🎮💻📖 @mdstevens0612@mas.to

I'm deeply saddened that my international moots and followers can never understand how fucking funny it is when South Africans called the 49 "refugees" the voetsekkers

(But I'll try. The original Dutch settlers who would later become modern day Afrikaners are known as the Voortrekkers, English equiv is roughly forebearers but directly translates to front pullers/movers. Voetsek is what you yell at a dog to leave you alone. Has the same connotation as fuck off, but ever so slightly more polite)