David Pruess

Remember, algorithms will always push the most negative images of black people. I’m a rapper and my organization has been sending books to prison for years! We just sent 1200 this month. If you’d like to support our work retweet and join us for $1/month 🤎Patreon.com/nonamebooks

@ProudSocialist By pretty much any logic, the U.S. is a terrorist regime.

Secretary of War Crimes Pete Hegseth: “Terrorist regimes target civilians, we do not.” According to UNICEF the U.S. has already hit 20 schools, 10 hospitals, and killed over 1,300 civilians including 300 children. So by Hegseth’s own logic the U.S. is a terrorist regime.

It’s my 12th birthday ! I cannot believe it’s been that long since the CCC opened its doors. It’s been a journey, so I’d like to share a quick reflection as I am waking up this morning. It may come across as a bit direct, so please forgive me in advance. ------------------------------ Reflection: When I was a teenager, my dad once took me to a chess club that met in a restaurant.If you’ve spent time around chess clubs, you know the scene: church-basement energy, and a few grumpy regulars. My dad walked in, looked around, and quietly (or not so quietly if you ask my mom!) decided he wouldn’t be bringing me back. He didn’t see a sport. He saw disorganization. Something that looked like it wasn’t worth his son’s time. That moment stuck with me. Over time, I realized something important which became a driving value of mine: if a parent who wants to support their child feels uncomfortable walking into a chess club, chess has already lost. Everything we’ve built at the Charlotte Chess Center comes back to that idea. We stopped pretending chess had to live in borrowed spaces and organized with a lower standard. We built a community in a way that treats everyone who walks through the door as someone we serve. Over the years I’ve watched a lot of trends come and go. Programs promising to produce xxxx GMs, platforms trying to gamify the soul out of chess, millions raised and dumped into speculative projects artificially flooding cash into the ecosystem only to then go away once the ideas fail, leaving holes in the community and reducing trust. Chess is a niche community built on simple principles: consistency, trust, and culture. You can copy tournament formats and programs, but culture isn’t something you can duplicate. The CCC isn’t a pop-up model. We’re here 24/7/365 providing year-round infrastructure for the chess community. Consistency builds trust. Trust builds culture. Culture builds community. I often hear discussions about the “Chess Capital.” For me, New York City will always hold that cultural title. The history there is incredible. But Charlotte has become something different: a true grassroots chess community. With no sponsors or significant contributions, Charlotte has become the city for chess players, by chess players. In 2013, about 450 unique rated players played a rated game in Charlotte across all affiliates. Today, the CCC alone brings in over 2,700 unique rated players every year. Compare that to more “famous” clubs like St. Louis or the Mechanics’ Institute, which hover around 1,200 unique players per year. We have the largest number of players per capita in the country. While we may not be the self proclaimed “chess capital”, we are the city for all chess players. To be clear, there are others who are building their own communities and cultures, and we aren’t the only ones doing meaningful work. There are too many to name, but I have great respect for Impact Coaching Network in NYC and our neighbors at the Columbia Chess Club (SC). As for me, my days of serious tournament play are mostly behind me, at least until the World Senior 📷. But chess is still part of my daily life. I play online games every day, follow major events, and stay deeply connected to the game because I believe the people leading chess communities should genuinely love the game. To this day, I still show up every Tuesday for TNA to give a guest lecture and review members’ games. I don’t have to do that anymore, but I still do. It’s personal. It’s one of the last threads connecting me to the very beginning, back when we were just a handful of players meeting at the Asian Library before the Charlotte Chess Center was even an idea. I never imagined employing 60+ staff members or running one of the largest chess communities in the country. When my dad walked into that chess club years ago, he decided it wasn’t a place worth bringing his son. Twelve years later, thousands of players walk through our doors every year. We built the kind of chess community I wish had existed when I was a kid. We’ve built a community where a kid can start in Coach Geoff’s fundamentals class and grow all the way to Grandmaster without leaving their hometown. Our team brings together the administration, education, and tournament organization that makes that dream a reality. That wasn’t supposed to be possible at all, but especially for a city like Charlotte, but we proved that it is. We didn’t build a brand. We built a community.

@WallStreetApes Loony nonsense! If a Native American bombed a bunch of U.S. cities, would you excuse them because European settlers started this war 400 years ago, and they are just finishing it? You can’t pick one random event 50 years ago to blanket justify wrong actions today.

I can’t believe it, CBS News is reporting the unfiltered truth about Iran “If you're looking for an origin point of this current war, don't look to the earliest hours of this Saturday. Look back to November 4th, 1979. That was the day Iranian revolutionaries stormed the U.S embassy in Tehran, capturing 52 Americans and parading them in blindfolds for the whole world to see A new and daring element was disclosed today in the Iran crisis. For the next 444 days, they were held captive. The tally kept nightly by Walter Cronkite. Finally, the hostages were released, but that wasn't the end of the story. In 1983, 241 U.S service members were killed in their barracks by an Iran-backed suicide bomber in Beirut. Americans can argue whether this is a war of necessity, but what's clear from the history is that the fuse of this explosion is 50 years long and has included the loss of thousands of American and Iranian lives. Every president since Jimmy Carter has tried to end this conflict. In 2015, president Barack Obama announced a deal to stall Iran's nuclear ambitions, a deal that President Trump replaced with a campaign of maximum pressure, and now military might. Today the United States military continues to carry out large-scale combat operations in Iran to eliminate the grave threats posed to America by this terrible terrorist regime. That history is why the president's allies in Congress say he hasn't started a war with Iran. He's finishing one.”

@sweet_1501 @lisamurkowski Trump himself is the leading sponsor of terror in the world.

@lisamurkowski Be honest and quit gaslighting the American people. Congress has not declared war since 1942. President Trump is perfectly in his executive powers to take out the leading state sponsor of terror that is actively supplying Russia with drones and supporting war worldwide.

We in Congress can debate the merits of the War Powers Act, but the hard reality is that the President has committed U.S. troops to active engagement in combat with an enemy that has targeted and killed Americans for decades. We have lost six soldiers in this fight with the potential for more casualties. What our troops need now is for our Congress, and this country, to know that they are supported. It is for this reason that I oppose Senator Kaine’s War Powers Resolution—based on the practical implications of its passage. As written, it requires removal of troops from hostilities, leaving no room for operations that have already started to reach an even partially successful conclusion to degrade Iran’s nuclear capabilities. As Iran attacks everything it can, from military bases to embassies to civilian targets, we cannot tie our military’s hands or abruptly leave our allies and partners to fight on their own. There is no question that the President should have sought authorization from Congress before striking Iran on this scale, likewise bringing in our allies ahead of time as they now are equally in danger. However, the abrupt cessation of all offensive operations would not leave any Americans—soldiers, diplomats, or civilians—in the Middle East in a safer position. The President acknowledged in his notification to Congress that no one knows the full scope and duration of military operations that may be necessary. It then becomes the duty of Congress to define the scope of this conflict, requiring the President to fully and transparently make his case for this action. We should begin drafting and debating an authorization for the use of military force, critically examining requests for supplemental funding, as well as conduct rigorous oversight hearings, so the American people know the limits and objectives of this military operation. My focus is on the safety of America’s armed forces and the American civilians who are on the ground in the Middle East. At this point, we have little choice but to continue the military operation to degrade and destroy Iran’s capability for nuclear weapons. That will not happen without support for our U.S. military.

@lisamurkowski Our troops are NOT supported. They should not be there. They should be refusing to kill foreigners at the orders of the corrupt and evil US government members such as yourself. You are simply EVIL.

@tommartell As are most times, unfortunately. But now even worse than before.

A little logic game for you... If Iran "attacking our sovereign territory" is a declaration of war on us, then us attacking their sovereign territory is _______________. War? No of course not, why would you think that. Its a specific operation! It is an incredibly embarrassing time to be an American.

@ProudSocialist Such evil 😭

U.S. Secretary of War Crimes: “Flying over Tehran, flying over Iran, flying over their capital…Iranians looking up only seeing U.S.-Israeli air power. Death & destruction from the sky all day long.” This is how Nazis talk. He is telling you the objective is DEATH. Believe him.

Today’s song releases in ten minutes, and I’ve got another coming Wednesday! Its first verse is the only one to ever get me into the second round at Flow Lounge: Noone youtu.be/pQdEsXHWhEo?si… via @YouTube

A new song I’ve worked on for two years, Superstar, premieres tomorrow: youtu.be/rVIt2os4ORc?si… via @YouTube

@Preizuzetnik @waynehhsiung It’s fair to mark any person who engages in this for their actions, independent of what others do. Are you saying people are not allowed to talk about what Musk is doing unless they research every single other person in the world and post about them? Impossible burden.

@waynehhsiung I believe you, but i'm talking about just this one instance, it is not fair to mark him for this practice. And if there is something like 'right to experiment on those animals' ,one can argue that his field is the top contender for it. Cruel/horrific nevertheless, though.

The story of Punch, the baby macaque abandoned by his mom and bullied in a zoo, is sickening. But what Elon Musk does to macaques is 1000x worse. He puts monkeys in restraints like this and drills holes in their heads in vile experiments. This is 100% verified and true.

Agreements between ICE and local law enforcement agencies increased by 950 percent last year. New York state has a Democratic Governor, @GovKathyHochul, and a Democratic Party majority in both houses of the New York State Legislature. On top of that, EIGHT of the State Democrats are from the Democratic Socialists of America. AND YET, NINE Memorandums of Agreement were signed with ICE last year in New York state alone. As a result, thousands of New York immigrants have been detained by ICE. This is one of countless instances that totally discredit the idea that somehow electing more Democrats is the way to defeat Trump. In fact, Trump and Trumpism have gone on the rise not because the majority of the working class is moving rightward, but because they are angry at both parties. The Democratic Party is not the so-called lesser evil. The Democrats and Republicans are together the two most powerful parties of global capitalism. They both created ICE, have funded ICE, have funded imperialist wars and the genocide in Gaza, and have carried out a war on the working class. We need a new party for working people.

@TrumpAndJeffrey @Jaybefaunt @usurpthachef As in: it is unlikely we will ever fix the evil of our society by voting, so we should vote 3rd party, but devote more of our hopes and efforts elsewhere.

@TrumpAndJeffrey @Jaybefaunt @usurpthachef Voting for war criminals is even worse than “lighting your vote on fire” — which is not even true btw; voting 3rd party signals that you are against the evil dems+reps so others can work with you for a better future. Plus, as he said, we need to build power away from ballot box.

When asked if he’d vote for Gavin Newsom or JD Vance for president, Hasan says he’d vote 3rd party. This proves Hasan doesn’t care about ANY of the marginalized groups he pretends to support. All he cares about is taking money from them so he can buy more outfits for stream.

@usurpthachef No, it proves he has a different perspective on what would create positive change than you. Some1 could just as easily say "your willingness to vote for Biden or Harris or Newsom shows that *you* dont care about any of the groups that would be hurt by those admins."

@asirius1nwa @BBMagaMom On the off chance you want to know the truth: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Todd_Blan… was Trump’s defense attorney, then nominated by Trump for dep Attorney General, confirmed by the senate 52-46 senate.gov/legislative/LI… looks like it was ~ 100% repubs who confirmed him.

@BBMagaMom This scum is a Democrat Obiden holdover, and why he holds the position he has is beyond my comprehension. This guy is NOT a Trump or MAGA supporter, so why does he still have this job?

⸻ 🚨 BREAKING: DOJ official Todd Blanche says, “If the Department of Justice had information about men who abuse women, we would prosecute them.” Women? We are talking about children. We are talking about minors. We are talking about babies. The American people are watching the Epstein files be released in real time; watching names, firms, and non-victim communications redacted. Emails showing who Epstein was engaging with are being blacked out, not to protect victims, but to protect powerful people. Don’t gaslight the country and pretend there’s “no hidden information.” Don’t insult our intelligence by claiming the government doesn’t have access to files it redacted itself. This isn’t justice. This isn’t transparency. And Americans are not stupid!!!!!! This is a slap in the face to every single one of us!!!!

@BedoyaUSA This is unsurprising to those who are aware that Hakeem Jeffries and Chuck Schumer have *always* been our enemies.

Hakeem Jeffries went from “no masks” to “no masks in an arbitrary and capricious fashion.” Schumer has adopted a similar position. At some point, you have to take a stand on something. Not allowing armed men in masks to roam our streets seems like an easy one. Apparently not.

@RpsAgainstTrump aka: we’ll never lose another "election"

Steve Bannon: “We‘re gonna have ICE surround the polls…We’ll never again allow an election to be stolen.”

@ProudSocialist The Democrats are sitting at the table.

@G_S_Bhogal @ArthurCDent @JerryBarnett @Samuel_Gregson Data point for you: that’s also what I read, and even re-reading multiple times, I can’t see what else you might have meant.

@ArthurCDent @JerryBarnett @Samuel_Gregson That's not what I said, but it's what you read because you approached my point in bad faith.

Yes, I too remember the woke purges of 2020 when rainbow flag adorning law enforcement officers were riddling protestors with bullets in the street.