Voline

@voline

Megalomaniacal Self-Aware Computer

94 Following430 Followers2,854 Posts

Bluesky

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Voline@voline· 6d

Yes, that's the Iron Law of Institutions.

Black text on a white background that says the following:

The Iron Law of Institutions is: the people who control institutions care first and foremost about their power within the institution rather than the power of the institution itself. Thus, they would rather the institution "fail" while they remain in power within the institution than for the institution to "succeed" if that requires them to lose power within the institution.

— Jon Schwarz. "Democrats and the Iron Law of Institutions". Tiny Revolution, 5 Sept 2007.

http://www.tinyrevolution.com/mt/archives/001705.html

Voline@voline· 8d

And he’s going to do it with noted anti-Semite …

Jewish American Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont.

Voline@voline· 8d

Just look at these white supremacists!

Voline@voline· 12d

Voline@voline· 21d

I Met a Man Beside the Firewall

I met a man beside the firewall Who said: two vast and empty halls of stone Stand in the city. Near them, on the mall, Half sunk, a shattered visage lies, whose frown, And wrinkled lip, and sneer of cold command, Tell that its sculptor well those passions read, Which yet survive, stamped on these lifeless things, Truthiness of mouth, which to pow’r gave head, And on the pedestal these words appear: "My name is WaPo, King of Mainstream Media: Look upon my works, ye Bloggers, and despair!" Nothing beside remains. Round the decay Of those colossal wrecks, in troubled air The newsprint crumbles, rips, and blows away.

Posted by Stag Party Palin on Thursday, 2 July 2009.

http://www.hillmanfoundation.org/blog/washington-post-rip#comment-48

Voline@voline· 27d

Voline@voline· Jul 13

Meme of boyfriend with girlfriend turning around to leer at a passing woman, except death is walking with Mitch McConnell and turning back to take a look at Lindsey Graham.

Voline@voline· Jul 12

Whoa! You’ve been a busy reactionary! Maybe log off and give the keyboard a rest.

Voline@voline· Jul 11

A friend once gave me some good advice. He told me whatever a cop says to you, in your mind prepend the phrase "I would like you to believe …" to it. So, "The Portland Police Bureau is understaffed." becomes "I would like you to believe the Portland Police Bureau is understaffed."

A block of text from Aimee Green. "Half-dozen women hit, scratch, kick Portland park attacker as they wait 31 minutes for police to respond". The Oregonian, 11 July 2026. It reads as follows:

Police spokesperson Mike Benner said "significant" staffing shortages are ongoing and have frustrated victims and police alike. He pointed to widespread criticism that police response times are unacceptable. He also noted that Police Chief Bob Day has frequently said that the city has insufficient funds to hire more officers.

The average response time to high-priority calls in April averaged about 17 minutes.
That grew to about 20 minutes in June, according to a city report.

"Our officers (and dispatchers) work hard every day to respond as quickly as possible, but the reality is that our current staffing levels limit our ability to meet the level of service our community deserves," Benner said in an email Wednesday.

Link: https://www.oregonlive.com/crime/2026/07/half-dozen-women-hit-scratch-kick-portland-park-attacker-as-they-wait-31-minutes-for-police-to-respond.html

Voline@voline· Jul 11

Yellow text on an electric blue field that reads, "Boycott, divest, and unsubscribe from the New York Times“

Voline@voline· Jul 10

Here's a to do list for Governor Kotek, if she wants to make up those 4 points she's behind Drazen

A chart made by Data for Progress from a survey May 15-June 21, 2026. It "surveys with 447 respondent interviews of U.S. swing voters".

Headline text says, "Swing Voters Say Raising Taxes on the Wealthy Would Move Their Vote to Democrats"

The chart is for responses to the following question:
"Which of these policies would make you definitely vote for a Democratic candidate in an upcoming election? Please select up to three options."

The following are "Policies selected by at least 1 in 10 swing voters":

* Raise taxes on the wealthy 28%
* Create a Medicare for All health care system 24%
* Ban artificial intelligence from setting prices or wages based on personal data 21%
* Restrict private utility companies from passing unreasonable costs on to customers 20%
* Raise the minimum wage to $15 per hour 19%
* Stop providing military aid and weapons to Israel 17%
* Increase border security 17%
* Nothing would make me definitely vote for a Democratic candidate 16%
* Invest in building new affordable housing 13%
* Increase oil and gas drilling 12%
* Ban transgender women from playing women's sports 12%
* Increase protections for abortion #10

Voline@voline· Jul 6

Photograph by Nathan Howard of Reuters news service on 5 July 2026. The Washington monument obelisk at night lit up in blue, red, and white with characters down the sides that say "Freedom" and "250". In the background the sky is filled with dark clouds given a purple hue by thunderbolts and fireworks. In the foreground are the black silhouettes of people looking up at the sky. One is wearing a cowboy hat. No I am not kidding.

https://media.guim.co.uk/4d1f88429779a2cae4a1c982d8c6f88279e44f49/800_0_6853_5483/master/6853.jpg

Voline@voline· Jul 4

Cascadia Flag. Three horizontal stripes: top is blue, middle is white, bottom is green. The silhouette of a Douglas fir tree in the black in the center.

Voline@voline· Jul 4

Voline@voline· Jun 28

Yellow text in a blue field that says, "Boycott, divest, and unsubscribe from the New York Times.

Voline@voline· Jun 23

Dear @jewskychai.bsky.social, how much military, financial, and diplomatic aid does the US government give to China or Russia? As Chomsky said, "My own concern is primarily the terror and violence carried out by my own state". Hope that clarifies things for you. 💋🇵🇸🇱🇧

Simcha Chai (@jewskychai.bsky.social) wrote on Bluesky on 22 June 2026:

"Dear Left Leaning DSA:
Criticize Israel and all AIPAC to your hearts content. Get out all that hate into the public domain. It is easier to identify the Nazis among you. Funny how you have zero criticism for China, Russia or any other country - only Israel. This is what made you a Nazi wannabee!"

Voline@voline· Jun 19

This man is not your friend.

Photo of a man in a black balaclava labelled "Democrats" holds a woman from behind who is labelled "Voters" and holds a gun to her head that is labelled "Republicans".

Voline@voline· Jun 8

Portrait of Mussolini wearing a black shirt and tie with a military suit. Photo from Fototeca Storica Nazionale

Voline@voline· Jun 5

From @MHowell @kolektiva.social on Mastodon: "Local #Seattle artist Light Guerrilla projected “TAX THE RICH” on the side of Mark #Zuckerberg 's stupid boat while it was docked in Lake Union. The boat is now anchored in the middle of Elliott Bay several miles away."

Local Seattle artist Light Guerrilla projected “TAX THE RICH” on the side of Mark Zuckerberg's stupid boat while it was docked in Lake Union.

Voline@voline· Apr 26

Tapping the sign, again.

On The Media's Breaking News Consumer Handbook

1. In the immediate aftermath, news outlets will get it wrong.
2. Don't trust anonymous sources.
3. Don't trust stories that cite another news outlet as the source of the information.
4. There's almost never a second shooter.
5. Pay attention to the language the media uses.
* "We are getting reports"… could mean anything.
* "We are seeking confirmation"… means they don't have it.
* "[News outlet] has learned"… means it has a scoop or is going out on limb.
6. Look for news outlets close to the incident.
7. Compare multiple sources.
8. Big news brings out the fakers. And photoshoppers.
9. Beware reflexive retweeting. Some of this is on you.

— On The Media. "Breaking News Consumer's Handbook". *On The Media*. WNYC Studios. 2013-09-20.

https://www.wnyc.org/story/breaking-news-consumers-handbook-pdf/

Voline@voline· Apr 20

The largest Mastodon site, Mastodon.social, has been under a DDoS attack today like the one that made Bluesky unusable last week. Different architecture. Different result for the network.

Jan Wildeboer (@jwildeboer@social.wildeboer.net) on Mastodon wrote at 20 April 2026 14:45 UTC.

"DDos (Distributed Denial of Service) attack against BlueSky a few days ago: The whole network goes down.

DDoS against mastodon.social today: Lots of users on that instance impacted, the rest of the Fediverse keeps on running, my instance doesn't really notice, messages will be queued up until mastodon.social is reachable again.

Both networks claim to be decentralised and federated. You decide :)"

https://social.wildeboer.net/@jwildeboer/116437580537396474

Voline@voline· Apr 19

If Zarah Sultana had not entered this into the public record by saying it in the House of Commons on 14 April 2026, today it would be illegal to print this in the any UK media. #UK #Palestine #CivilLiberties

Zarah Sultana speaking in the UK House of Commons 14 April 2026 from Hansard for that day, page 768:

"Madam Deputy Speaker, I am going to exercise the privilege of this House to place something on the public record that the mainstream press has chosen to ignore.
Six Palestine Action activists face retrial after being acquitted in February following a year in prison. If convicted, they and 18 others will be sentenced as terrorists, but the jury will not be told that. The jury could convict them on criminal damage charges with no idea that terrorism sentences will follow. Not a single terrorism charge has been brought forward. The proscription has been ruled unlawful, and the defendants themselves have been banned from telling the jury that they acted to stop genocide under threat of contempt charges. This is what a stitch-up looks like, and it is part of the same pattern: a Labour Government that will do whatever it takes to silence dissent, protect Israeli death factories and escape accountability."

https://hansard.parliament.uk/commons/2026-04-14

Voline@voline· Apr 14

Yellow text on a blue background that says, “Boycott, divest, and unsubscribe from the New York Times”.

Voline@voline· Apr 13

Yellow text on a blue field that says, "boycott, divest, and unsubscribe from the New York Times“

Voline@voline· Apr 13

Sure it's from a hack. But it can still be true.

Marc Andreessen enjoys a pole dance in honor of his god Baphomet in his lair.

Voline@voline· Apr 7

This would be a more credible threat if Obama had prosecuted the Bushites for their war crimes. Or if Trump had prosecuted the Obamaites for theirs, or if Biden had prosecuted anyone for insurrection, …

A post by US Congressman Ted Lieu of California on Xitter. In it he says:

Dear @thejointstaff:

The UCMJ and federal law prohibit war crimes.
Striking civilian infrastructure that causes disproportionate civilian harm constitutes war crimes.

You will disobey those illegal orders.

If you commit war crimes, the next Administration will prosecute you.

Voline@voline· Apr 2

"The more you drive, the less intelligent you are." — Miller to Otto. Repo Man (1984). Dir Alex Cox.

For societies, as for individuals. Miller (Tracey Walter) talks to Otto (Emilio Estevez) across a burning oil drum in Repo Man (1984), Directed by Alex Cox.

Voline@voline· Mar 26

I don't need validation from the crew that sold the country the invasion of Iraq and "Screams Without Words". Screw 'em. en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Screams...

Voline@voline· Mar 23