Rafi

@rafil.bsky.social

756 Followers 836 Following

Not a journalist anymore. Not big on bluesky. Nothing of note to say. Recent Canadian.

A poodle is curled up like a comma on a dog bed in a wooden crate. His long snout rests on the bed and he looks up at the camera with soulful eyes.
An activist speaking to the Ann Arbor city council says “Gaza has lived under a brutal occupation for 75 years”
“Investors who witnessed the dot-com crash remained wary of history's repeating itself. In the early 2010s, they warned of a bubble among mobile apps with no revenue. Then came fears over "unicorn" start-ups that were valued at $1 billion or more, followed by nonsensical crypto projects and, eventually, the overlapping investment manias of 2021.“
The street is so flooded the sidewalk is underwater and cars are driving through shoving water up higher toward buildings
This bench is, no shit, dedicated to the memory of “Mary L. Sit.”
Darline graham announces her committee assignments
“Do we deal with mobsters? No,” Burton said. “Do we deal with the cartels? Absolutely not. We don’t deal in cash, so that’s another big factor. The other thing to remember is that these are defensive vehicles. It’s not like we’re putting rocket launchers on them.” Then again, not everyone wants to blend in. Karyn Kobayashi, a former producer in the entertainment industry, owns a Rezvani Tank: a street-legal, $350,000 behemoth that comes equipped with ballistics armoring, electrified door handles, a ramming bumper, thermal night vision and gas masks. She paid extra for side windows that go down. “I need to be able to hit the drive-through at In-N-Out Burger,” Kobayashi said. The vehicle is a monster. If Optimus Prime from the Transformers and a Jeep Wrangler had a baby, it would be the Rezvani Tank. Kobayashi, who is 5 feet 7 inches tall, says she feels like a Tyrannosaurus rex whenever she drives it. “If we make a wrong turn and we’re caught in some sort of protest, I feel safe,” she said.
Screenshot of photo from article. An older dude stands in front of car chassis trying to look tough in badly-fitting clothes. Caption: Mark Burton, the chief executive of Armormax, said his clients include a rising number of American car owners.
• If he is excited when you walk in the door, it's best to NOT greet him immediately. Stonewall him until you can get him outside. He has a habit of tinkling the second you start to pet him. • Bribe him with treats whenever it is convenient. He does nothing out of the kindness of his heart. • He will find and eat any sock. Keep your socks behind closed doors or in a sealed laundry receptacle. Other items he's known to destroy include: • Earbuds • Paper products of any kind • Bubble wrap • Twist ties • Any food left on the table. Don't leave it unattended. • He would love to play fetch with you but he understand how. Mostly, we just end up playing tug with the ball. • He is allowed to invite himself onto furniture except for the beds. If you want him to sleep with you in the guest bed, that's fine. Contact info:
Dear Liel, Thank you—this is exactly the kind of pushback that makes a piece better, and you have put your finger on its weakest sentence. You are right that frozen is the wrong word, and I will cut it. Israeli culture is awash in Jewish life: Ribo turning a few lines of Yoma into one of the biggest hits in years, Ben Ari selling out arenas, Benny Lau’s Tanakh project and his Sapir chairmanship, Sivan Rahav-Meir drawing thousands of secular Israelis week after week. I know that landscape and I love it.
"The 4th Of July is obsolete now that we have wall street"
A medium sized brown poodle lies on my chest
James Garner, Tommy Lee Jones, Donald Sutherland, and Clint Eastwood in a promotional picture for the 2000 film Space Cowboys, wearing astronaut jumpsuits
Rafi flexes his cozy living room and the haunted-doll stare of his poodle Babka. If you look closely there’s a desktop computer tower next to the TV
From a whatsapp groupchat thread: MY MAYOR MUSLIM MY BAGELS JEWISH THE REBBE'S ALIVE KNICKS IN 5
DOD Officially Drops 180 Faiths From Military's Recognized Religion List
82-0 team on 82-0.com featuring Jerry West, Stephon Marbury, KD, Elton Brand, and Wilt
The Mystery of a Congressman's Absence Deepens Representative Thomas Kean Jr. last voted in Washington on March 5, citing a medical issue. An appearance planned for late May has been canceled.
Woman at anti-ICE protest with face digitally obscured holds up sign reading “WE BELONG TO THEM”
screenshot of the current exchange between Eoin Higgins and Will Stancil
a woman stands in an space-age computer storage room, holding a wheel of magnetic tape and looking at refrigerator-sized data readers
reddit promoted post Username: u/chicago-ATC Headline: "Going No Contact with family?" Image in slideshow: professional-looking headshot of smiling bald white man in mid-thirties with mustache and folded arms Caption: "Jonny has expertise in the hospitality industry."
Post on IG from Tommy Caldwell “For the past six months, I’ve deliberately pulled back from discussing topics on social media that could be considered political—largely because the conversation so often divides rather than unites. But lately it feels like we’ve reached a tipping point. Silence, in this moment, begins to feel like violence. Saying nothing feels less like neutrality and more like cowardice. If you have a voice, at what point does it become your responsibility to use it?” Caption: “Inviting comment on this one. I am curious to get a little insight into how much of a bubble I’m in these days.”
“Thirty one known defendants have been charged in Chicago with non-immigration crimes tied to “Operation Midway Blitz.” With today’s acquittal, 15 of them have been cleared and nobody has been convicted.”
“ Your shipping label was created and sent to fulfillment. Please keep in mind that we print labels in bulk to expedite the process. There is still a lead time once the label is printed, considering an unprecedented level of order volume that we are experiencing. Please be patient and refrain from emailing about your order status as it slows down the fulfillment process. We are working around the clock and will ship your order as soon as possible.”
My “where I’d live” map It is not that interesting. I love the lakes region, rural New England, and mountain west. I am skeptical but open to Appalachia, Texas, and bits of the Plains. Hard no to PA, MO, NJ, or Florida (never been to Florida but I’ve seen enough)
Don’t tread on me flag
A big bold sign in a storefront is written like this: Window 1: We Fix Window 2: Bad Jobs It is intended to say “We fix bad jobs” (left top, left bottom, right top, right bottom) but scans just as easily as “We bad fix jobs” (left top, right top, left bottom, right bottom)
Menorah lit for the first night of Chanukah
60 minutes tweeted a clip with the caption “Who will be the next James Bond actor? “Domer, a former professional poker player who now trades full-time on a prediction market, says, ‘I have very strong opinions on this… I think it’s going to be someone that nobody has really heard of.’” The screenshot shows a frame from the clip with a reedy guy in glasses and a blue sweater over a button down collar
highlighted text: "but if they end up primarily pulling riders from trains and buses, which are already exceedingly safe, there will be far less of a benefit"
bluesky user Mugsy’s Rapsheet saying it’s “childish” to denegrate Jefferson for “raping his slaves”
Map on Nefesh B’Nefesh website advertising housing in the West Bank
Screenshot of Bluesky Skeet 1 by Preston Fassell דוד פשל “If you have a problem with the Israeli government you can go protest outside the Israeli consulate. If you lead a mob to an American synagogue you just hate Jews. Skeet 2 by me What if you specifically have a problem with the organization Nefesh B’Nefesh
NYT Screenshot: Headline: Brooklyn Investor Who Stole Homes Faces Years Behind Bars Subhed: Sanford Solny was sentenced to up to seven years in prison for a deed-theft scheme that preyed on distressed homeowners from minority communities. [Picture of Orthodox Jewish man with grey beard and black yarmulke frowning in courtroom next to lawyer and surrounded by cops] Caption: Sanford Solny, right, addressed his family, his rabbi and his friends but not the victims of his deed theft at his sentencing. Credit...Jefferson Siegel for The New York Times
This is a screenshot of two emails in my gmail inbox. The first email is from the newsletter “Welcome to Hell World” and the subject line is “For all their wealth and power they too will someday die.” The second email is a newsletter from Katelyn Burns, with the subject line “If You’re Trans, You Have to Live.”