Smitty Smat

Are you really kickin' it old school or are you just living in the past?

@LeahRemini Congratulations!

I graduated!!! I earned a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology with a concentration in Psychology, summa cum laude! Five years ago, I started this journey with an eighth-grade education, and even that was from a Scientology school, where critical thinking was discouraged and the quality of instruction was subpar, to say the least. I did not get here alone. Thank you to @NYUSPS and @DeanKamath. Thank you to everyone who supported me, encouraged me, and believed in me, especially on the days I was not sure I could do this. And there were plenty of those days. To my therapist, who told me not to give up when I was told I likely would not be accepted into a prestigious program. To my tutor, without whom I likely would have given up at the harder points along the way. To all those here who have sent me loving messages on social media. And to everyone else who has cheered me on in person through the ups and the downs of it, it means more than I can put into words. It got me over this finish line of being a student again and graduating. That goal once seemed impossible. To those who have asked me, “Why this? Why now?” I pursued higher education to reclaim a piece of myself. When you come out of a high-control group like Scientology, or even a high-control family, there are parts of you that were never allowed to fully develop. Those parts include your curiosity and your ability and right to question. Education was discouraged because knowledge creates confidence in your ability to trust your own mind and navigate the world. That leads to true independence, and that would never be allowed. I wanted that back. But more than that, I needed to understand. I needed to understand how my mother could have us join Scientology when I was just eight years old, and how my family and I could be part of something like this and stay in it for so long. I needed to understand how these systems work, how they influence people, and how they take hold. Without education, access to real information, and support, people can fall into systems that work against their best interests. Some assume that because they are educated, even highly educated, they would never fall for something like this. But it turns out that is not necessarily true. What many of us are impacted by, but never quite understand, is how high-control groups operate. Many still do not understand how misinformation spreads, and how tribalism and radicalization shape what we think, what we believe, and who and what we trust. Without that awareness, none of us are immune. Today, we are seeing how these forces can influence good people and distort reality. History has shown us that this is not new; it just comes in a different form now. Social media connects us in ways we never imagined, but it also creates echo chambers that reinforce beliefs and justify behavior without question. Real critical thinking is hard when we are fed so much by algorithms designed to appeal to us. In learning and achieving this milestone in my own life, it has helped me take a good, hard look at my own beliefs and ideologies. This journey was about healing for me, but also about figuring out how to help others in whatever way I can in the future. So what is in my future? I am considering continuing my education and possibly pursuing a master’s degree, with the goal of contributing to advocacy and policies that protect people, not systems. For now, I am taking this moment in. I am proud of myself. And I am grateful. Thank you for being on this journey with me.

@liz_churchill10 @kelliwardaz Pretty sure us lowly commoners figured this out about 5-6 years ago. But congrats on finally catching up.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe: “Adam Schiff covertly conspired with the fake whistleblower Eric Ciaramella in an attempt to overthrow the sitting President.” (2025) The Inspector General CONFIRMED it. Tulsi declassified the memos TODAY. THIS COVER UP IS OVER

@ResisttheMS Well folks…the grinning idiot is wrong again.

NYC Mayor Zohran Mamdani states that there is nothing to be ashamed of in being a socialist.

@DefiantLs We know you do, man…We know.

“This goes out to people who voted for Donald Trump. I hate you.”

@ResisttheMS Flail James flail!

James Carville suggests that President Trump will be "a lame duck president." "Trump is a soft man!" "He's not well, he has no stamina, he's obviously overweight…"

@DefiantLs @mrddmia Heads up. The grinning idiot is talking again.

Zohran Mamdani: My mom made all the white actors in her movie play waiters

Rep Jamaal Bowman: "The word 'socialism' is weaponized as some kind of, you know, anti-American thing."

@ThomasSowell For what?

Kamala Harris is considering running again in 2028.

@EepyTheFrog @MattWalshBlog

@MattWalshBlog Epstein files No new wars Cheap gas Mass deportations He flopped/lied on the biggest things he ran on. People are done

Some big names have shifted full anti-Trump. Others are full pro-Trump and insist that he can never be criticized and anyone who questions him or expresses any skepticism about anything he does is a traitor to the cause. Fewer and fewer prominent figures on the right are staking out the only actual sane position, which is that Trump is a politician who sometimes we will agree with and sometimes we will not agree with, and our right and responsibility as Americans is to be honest in either case.

@PopBase Ah yes, the grinning idiot. What a moron.

Zohran Mamdani walked 6 miles home last night from the New York City Hall to round out his first 100 days in office.

Gavin Newsom's wife recalls telling prisoners at San Quentin about running over and killing her sister with a golf cart. She said that she wasn't punished because it was an accident but that the prisoners are doing life even though theirs was "probably an accident too."

@Hunter_Eagleman Deserves repeating..dogs are the best.

Viewer discretion advised: ⚠️ This is what I’d call a viscous “bark battle!” 😆

@davidclowery Amazingly…I affectionately call my grandson(Jack) ”Jack a Mole’….as in a twisted pronunciation of Guacamole.

My wife invents great malapropisms. Tonight she created a new one. “Jack-a-Mole”. For those “jackasses that keep popping up.”

@BrandonStraka It’s good you don’t care…because we don’t like you.

AOC: “Unlike Trump, I don’t care if someone likes me or not. I’m going to fight for MAGA to have health care. I want MAGA to be paid a living wage.” Do you believe her?

"If you wanted to touch my body, you should’ve voted for it."

@Rothmus She’s a moron. But as the spouse of a retired teacher, I just want to know what system school is paying their kindergarten teachers $7500 a month??

+ Income $7,500.81 - rent $3,581 - utilities $1,200 - gym + personal trainer $251 - groceries $548 - G-wagon $1,548 - hair + nails $500 - gas (husband paid) - kids (nothing) Will borrow $124 from a friend. Art. 👌

“As a queer woman, I’m not afraid of Hamas or going to Gaza. They are very accepting of LGBT allies, and anyone who says otherwise is lying. But I am afraid Israel would try to k*ll me.”

@davidclowery I believe you’re right. I recently saw that same vid and just tried it for the first time on my 65 SJ. Because I went from 12s to 11s, I can’t be sure..but it just doesn’t seem quite the same. I’m def not doing “the knot” again.

Do not do this. Doesn’t sound the same.

Is it true that @NBCNews is ignoring the discovery of massive hospice fraud in California?

Is it true that @ABC is ignoring the discovery of massive hospice fraud in California?