Greg Cassel @gregsc1.bsky.social

It's unusual for me to share work here anymore, but this is a type of resistance: gcassel.substack.com/p/a-cosmolocal… part one

@RichDecibels @cube_flipper Ham radio is one of the most flexible and collapsible technologies, although it doesn't scale greatly beyond the natural power of close personal relationships. It can be an effective connective tissue between live and async comms.

@cube_flipper I’m leaning towards migrating to ham radio

leaning towards migrating to substack, i'm just not having much fun on here anymore compared with ~2023

“I just checked—it turns out that Art. II, Sec. 1 of the Constitution of the United States does *not* say ‘The executive Power shall be vested in a bunch of sociopaths who think they can do whatever the f*ck they want and make sh*t up as they go along.’” — George Conway

@JustJamieJoyce @GavinNewsom @JustJamieJoyce since you've brought Davos up, can you please comment upon Trump's speech there? It could help me adjust my relationship to your work.

@GavinNewsom Note: It's like page one of the political playbook to use the royal "we" when talking. It's easy to be sincere about that when running for political office. Your self-centered language at Davos was noticed.

We're witnessing corruption under Donald Trump at a scale this country has never seen. Weaponizing our institutions against his enemies. Profiting off the presidency. How the hell are we putting up with this?

@RichDecibels I guess that's why we have molecules

there's potentially no privilege as consequential as secure attachment privilege

I don't usually do this sort of thing but @RichDecibels I encourage you to read this, unless your resurgent interest in scalability has subsidized

@RichDecibels hang in there, although not necessarily on this platform. I mostly left last year except for making some very pointed political statements. i do realize that with your following, the pros could seem to outweigh the cons.

2AM, woke up sweating, jolted awake by a nightmare, immigration police bloodtesting everyone, high speed robots implementing automated deportation protocol, the technocrats' ethno nationalist purge, triangulating between ancestry & citizenship data to decide who gets kicked out of their homes. the peak nightmare moment was when they got to my wife but had somehow convinced me it's not my problem. not my problem. not my problem. feels like the political ethos I'm constantly exposed to on twitter. like living with black mold. I try to remember what my values are but I can't hold them in focus with this brain fog. on the TV they're showing nazi salutes from a rally in my town. seems like nazi rallies everywhere these days. that's definitely evil right? that's really really bad right? but we don't talk about it on twitter, when we met we agreed to leave politics out of it. shhh now, do your breathing exercises, shhhh, long exhales, regulate your nervous system, go back to sleep, go back to sleep, go back to sleep

A joint statement from me, @SenatorSlotkin, @SenMarkKelly, @RepJasonCrow, @RepGoodlander, and @RepHoulahan.

@Donot57673516 @rbnmckenna86 I certainly agree we need laws & limits to immigration as long as we live under the tyranny of these nation-state governments. I appreciate your thoughtful approach here; good luck managing the social media triggers.

@gregsc1 @rbnmckenna86 and by fairly i mean there are laws for immigration. maybe it's not actually fair but coming in illegally is technically invasion, whether it's a country or someone's house. maybe i could afford one extra person in my house, but 2,5? not likely. i extrapolate to assume the countr

A lot of people are saying this is just the right/left distinction. Why do people find this plausible? I’m very much in the misanthrope category and quite left wing.

@Donot57673516 @rbnmckenna86 I don't assume the worst re: your bannings but the idea of depriving people "who are here fairly" was subtly ludicrous unless you meant indigenous people. That said, I used this toxic platform accidentally today & will wrap things up as quickly as feasible.

@gregsc1 @rbnmckenna86 I've mostly been banned for disagreeing with groupthink in a way that wasn't even against the rules, but good of you to assume the worst, it's protective

@Donot57673516 @rbnmckenna86 I don't know you well & I don't intend to, but you might be a good example of the fact that healthy communities need cultural policies & limits. Not that rules should be imposed by publicly traded corporations like X; such centralization is one of our worst problems.

@rbnmckenna86 @gregsc1 twitter was more ban happy when controlled by leftists, I've definitely been banned in both left and right spaces though, so that's another "sacrifice this for the good of others" type thing

@rbnmckenna86 My reply was focused on the psychological not political associations. tbh probably wouldn't have replied at all except I forgot that I was on X not Bluesky. I'm nearly anarchist & don't think 20th century achievements were ever sustainable, but don't desire to discuss that here.

@gregsc1 who wanted to defend what are now standard social institutions had to imagine them in the abstract--they didn't exist. But it isn't plausible in the 21st century where the best defence of social democracy is to point to the concrete achievements of the 20th century.

@bernardtjoy I understand that you consider them to be intrinsic or natural human traits. I disagree but that's okay. To me, the practical issue is how people agree or disagree upon what their rights are. If you've written about that, a link could help me to understand your point.

@gregsc1 Rights aren't ideas or concepts.

I feel I must repeat this because I’m amazed how easy the point is to misunderstand: No one can lose a right. A right is definitionally what every human being has intrinsically as a consequence of their nature. The state has no power at all to grant or to take away a right.

@bernardtjoy Well okay but ideas and concepts are also made-up.

@gregsc1 Rights aren't words.

This is the most straightforward attack on free speech from state actors I've ever seen in my life and it's not even close.

An inexcusable act of political violence by one disturbed individual must never be exploited as justification for broader censorship and control. This Administration is increasingly using the weight of government power to suppress lawful expression. 🧵

@wtfis2bdone @jonathanbfine In contrast, I have no patience for academically elite bullshit, especially when coupled with unprovoked ad hominem attacks. I will indeed go away sooner or later, but only because this is a dumb toxic platform and I waste little time arguing with strangers anywhere.

writing is thinking. thinking is writing. writing is thinking. thinking is writing. writing is thinking. thinking is writing. writing is thinking. thinking is writing. writing is thinking. thinking is writing. writing is thinking. thinking is writing. writing is thinking. thinkin