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Posts Tagged ‘psychology’

Jail erodes every aspect of a person’s agency.  –  Lindsey Krinks

I recently watched all the Charlie Chan movies Chekhov had in his collection.  The low-budget Monogram Chan pictures of the 1940s weren’t as good as the 20th Century Fox ones of the 1930s, but though Mantan Moreland, who played Chan’s chauffeur in the ’40s pictures, was typically paired with Benson Fong as “Number Three son” for comic relief, a couple of the films included guest appearances by Moreland’s former vaudeville partner Ben Carter, allowing the two to show off the very funny ‘indefinite talk” routine which made them famous.  The links above the video were provided by Jesse Walker, Anarres Ansible, Mistress Matisse, IncarcerNation, Nun Ya, T. Greg Doucette, and IncarcerNation again, in that order.

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This technology is not safe to be deployed in communities.  –  Max Isaacs

Policing for Profit

Cops usually make up some pretext, however flimsy, for their robbery schemes:

The Massachusetts police oversight board suspended a state trooper’s…certification after he…[stole] a Bobcat bucket-loader…from a contractor he hired to remove fallen trees from his property…Joseph W. Franklin…[claimed] he was in the process of suing the contractor…for failing to complete the work and his attorney advised him to hold on to the Bobcat as “collateral”…[despite] not hav[ing] a lien or court order allowing him to keep [it, and]…court records do not list any civil actions involving Franklin or the contractor…[who] told police that…Franklin [had lied to]…him[, claiming another] contractor had [stolen] it…demand[ing] $5,000 [ransom]…

The Prudish Giant (#946)

It usually starts with sex workers, but it never stops with us:

YouTube [has] banned a[nother] wave of ASMR artists…for [supposedly] violating the platforms’ rules against “sexually gratifying” content…creators affected by the…bans who’ve spoken publicly about [the censorship] include ItsBunniiASMR, Slight Sounds, Nananightray, Roseasmr, Simoneasmr, and Janina Wilhelmsen, all of whom had significant followings on the platform.  There are still many ASMR creators on YouTube, making the bans even more confusing [to people who don’t understand that all censorship is a game of arbitrary whack-a-mole]…

The Red Umbrella (#1441)

When amateurs and violently-entitled idiots try to reinvent the wheel:

[Florida man] David Allen O’Brien…was arrested…[for a violent assault on] four [people]…on July 12 [he messaged a woman on Tinder and told her] he was looking for a “sugar baby.”  Over the next week, the two [negotiated] an arrangement [wherein] O’Brien [would] give her “$1,000 each visit,” treat her to dinner, and take her shopping…on [July 21 she] had three friends drive her to the date, wh[ich proceeded as arranged until]…they…went back to O’Brien’s residence…[where] she began to feel uncomfortable and texted her friends to come pick her up.  When O’Brien realized she was leaving, he demanded his money back…the woman refused…and jumped into her friends’ waiting car to flee…O’Brien [pursu]ed in…his…pickup truck and…when…he…[caught up he] violently rammed the back of their vehicle, sending it crashing into a pole…he…[then] rammed the car a second time, completely disabling [it]…Three of them managed to run away, but O’Brien cornered one of the male friends…pointed [a pistol] at…him…[and threatened to murder] him…[but]…the…victim…[escaped while] O’Brien [was distracted and]…the [cops caught him]…

Panopticon (#1449)

Flock and its cop customers need to be buried under a deluge of lawsuits:

…when combined with a network of…ALPRs…[license plates] become tracking devices that can provide a comprehensive history of a driver’s movements, potentially revealing sensitive information about his habits, health, relationships, political affiliations, and religious beliefs.  Police departments across the country nevertheless…routinely search the information they collect without reasonable suspicion, probable cause, a warrant, or any sort of judicial supervision…[and] it is nearly impossible for the average driver to avoid surveillance as he goes about his daily life.  That…violates the Kansas Constitution’s privacy protections, according to a lawsuit [from] the Kansas Justice Institute…Sam MacRoberts, KJI’s litigation director…[said] “If Wichita wants to track its citizens, it needs to go to a judge and get a warrant”…

To Molest and Rape (#1649)

It’s unusual for the official cop grooming program to be mentioned so prominently:

A [typical and representative] Southern California [cop] has been charged with [repeated molestation of] a 16-year-old [victim of the “]police Explorer[” grooming] program…Roberto Machuca…faces up to five years in state prison and [condemnation to the “]sex offender[” registry] for 10 years…

To Molest and Rape (#1656)

Cops just keep behaving like cops:

A [typical and representative Arkansas cop named]…Jeremy Boyd Grammer…[raped a girl under] 14…around…Aug. 30…[of last year], onl[y four years after getting paroled out of a 13-year prison sentence for child porn which began]…on July 31, 2008…

Panopticon (Nosey Parkers)

Surprising no one who has ever worked with optical character readers:

Flock [lie]s that in optimal conditions, its cameras accurately read more than 96% of license plate characters.  Hundreds of pages of records from the Roseville [California cop shop] show a different picture. In 2023 and 2024, Flock sent 1,427 alerts to Roseville police, flagging vehicles as stolen or used in a felony…in 71% of those alerts, Flock’s machine-learning software incorrectly read the license plates…The cameras regularly missed vehicles, captured blurry images, misread license plate characters and states, and sent delayed alerts…Flock [blame]ed…[Roseville’s “]atypical setup[“]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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[Zuckerberg]’s vision of the future may be antisocial and bleak, but we have the power to reject that reality.  –  Amanda Silberling

Welcome to the Future (#1500)

Surveillance, propaganda-spouting, and thought-crippling in a repurposed sex doll:

A [repurposed sex doll] is being [synchronized with a chatbot and fobbed off on American Indian students]…at Salamanca high school in…New York…The robot, [call]ed Sally, was…[built by] Realbotix, formerly Tokens.com, [which]…purchased [sex-doll manufacturer] Simulacra…in April 2024…Realbotix [l]ied [that it did not buy] the sex doll company [despite the acquisition being public record], and denied…that the dolls – [which are obviously repurposed sex dolls to anyone with eyes] – are re[purposed sex dolls]…Melinda Pearson…of the New York State United Teachers…said…“The answer to the challenges in education is not more screens, it’s not more algorithms, not more robots. What we need in our schools right now are more caring adults and more human connection”…

Note they aren’t trying this in a school for white kids.  See also “Mad Libs” below.

Welcome to the Future (#1551)

Another of the many reasons not to play with chatbots:

A trove of chat logs and projects created with Anthropic’s Claude [chatbot]…have been left exposed to Google, making them searchable to anyone on the web…when Claude users opt…to distribute a given chat or project to colleagues or associates using the chatbot’s “share” feature…[the program] notes that sharing will create a “public” link, and “anyone with the link can view.”  The warning, though, doesn’t alert users that shared content could wind up being indexed by a search engine…Such artifacts…include…a detailed medical report of a real patient, clinical trial results that include…patient names, documents sharing the names and phone numbers of primary school-aged children…and employee reviews that include…personal information…This isn’t the first time this has happened at Anthropic…and…[both] ChatGPT and [Mechahitler] chat logs…have [been] discover[ed] in Google…

Thought Control (#1565)

The logical endpoint to Florida’s censorship jihad:

Florida has been ground zero for book bans in the United States…under…[censorship] laws…[which demand banning] any book [even] a single [Froot Loop points at, even if they aren’t a] resident…of [the] district…[now the lunatics who run Clay County are] considering…eliminating school libraries altogether…[because although it] has removed more books than…any [other] district in the state…[that still isn’t enough to satisfy their crazed lust for thought control.  These people are so stupid they actually can’t grasp that the reason]…the circulation rates [of their libraries] are less than in most schools—less than one checkout a day…[is because there aren’t enough books left to check out.  And yet local politicians]…are frustrated by the inefficiency of [the censorship process]…their discussion centered not on whether to ban books but on how to do it faster…when asked what might replace the library space…[politicians absurdly suggested “]school stores[“]…and [“]computer labs[“]…

Not To Be Taken Internally (#1641)

Apparently this nitwit never heard of heavy metal poisoning:

[Online idiot] Connor Murphy [poisoned himself by] injecting gold into his body [because he imagined he would] gain “superhuman” powers…he…also [believed he was]…increas[ing] his attractiveness [by deforming his head into a distorted parallelepiped] as…[part of “]looksmaxxing[“.  One of his disciples described the cognitive damage done by toxic metal injection as]…“tapp[ing] into a level of consciousness that most people never will”…Police in Thailand were…called to [his] rental…after complaints of a man screaming inside, where they…found him in an “agitated” state.  He…fle[d] the [cops and then jumped in]…a…[nearby] lake [and drowned himself]…

Is there some reason this dude wanted to look like Sinestro?  And what are those neck lumps?  Was he carrying acorns in there?

Mad Libs (#1650)

Training kids not to think from an early age:

[Facebook] is working on a…storytelling [chatbot] called StoryKit, which creates [autocomplete]-generated children’s stories with custom characters, settings, lessons, and music.  As the App Store listing assures parents, “You don’t need to write a single word.”  At last, a tech company has found a way to outsource humanity’s oldest pastime: using our imaginations…To generate a story in the app, [nitwits] first select a character…by “[snapping] a photo of their favorite toy or person”…then…choose a lesson…it could be a lot worse.  [Facebook] regularly ships boneheaded ideas like Instagram deepfake generators…“pervert glasses”…[and] virtual reality work meetings…but it has always been possible to survive bedtime without using an inherently uncreative technology that calculates the most predictable response to a prompt…Perhaps the moral of the story here is that we can choose not to live in a world where children are raised on bedtime stories written by large language models…

Pyrrhic Victory (Nosey Parkers)

These things need to be banned entirely:

The promoter behind some of the biggest comic and entertainment conventions in the UK has banned [pervert] glasses from its events to stop…secret filming…of guests and attendees.  Monopoly Events said a number of guests had told the company they would be reluctant to appear at Comic-Con shows again after cases of recordings taking place without their knowledge.  The ban is [also] applicable to…any other “wearable recording devices”.  Attendees caught using the devices will be asked to leave the convention…Earlier this week the ferry operator CalMac paused bridge visits on its vessels after a passenger used [perve]rt glasses…without permission…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1658)

Every weapon eventually begets a defense:

A growing number of eyewear brands are developing glasses designed to interfere with facial recognition systems and surveillance cameras,…Solir Optics…sells “anti-facial recognition” sunglasses priced between $70 and $100…[which] are designed to block a broader range of light, including infrared and blue light…[so as to] interfere with retinal scans…Zenni Optical is also offering a lens coating called “ID Guard,” which…adds a pink tint to the surface of the lenses that reflects infrared light used by some facial recognition cameras…[and designer] Kerin Rose Gold…created Handle With Care, a[n overpriced] line…[which] use[s] black-and-white patterns intended to disrupt the sensors used by some facial recognition systems…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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Welcome to the future.  –  Joel Feder

Pyrrhic Victory (#1620)

The backlash isn’t nearly severe enough yet:

[Pervert] Glasses…are so [morally repugnant] that [even] some [who were sociopathic enough to buy them] are now leaving their expensive [gewgaw]s at home…men…have been using the glasses to…non-consensually…capture footage of…women [they] attempt…to hit on…then post[ing them] online…Some…have even attempted to extort victims of covert recordings for cash.  That’s on top of serious…privacy breaches by [Facebook]…and…the simple fact that [normal] people just really don’t like the idea of the world’s largest [psychopath collective]…facilitating abuse and surveillance in this way…[fortunately] the intensity of the [online] response [has] made [even moral imbeciles] think twice…[about being publicly recognized as] a predator or a creep…

Panopticon (#1643)

Here’s hoping Flock backlash will snowball:

The Los Angeles Police Department is ending its agreement with Flock…surveillance…”This contract is not being renewed because of serious concerns around civil liberties and civil rights issues, particularly around privacy and the data that is being collected from these cameras,” [oinked a spokespig, but in reality cops]…are continuing discussions with Flock…[in order to] revis[e the contact to give]…LAPD…[more control of the] data…

Panopticon (#1646)

If this guy had brown skin, he’d probably be dead now:

…On an otherwise normal Sunday afternoon in late June, I’d decided to take the…Range Rover I was testing that week out to run some errands…and [ended up] surrounded by police…in a Kohl’s parking lot in suburban Minnesota…after a tense hour…the [cops finally admitted they] had been tracking me for days using Flock…cameras…because they thought I’d stolen the Range Rover…[due to] a simple data error made 2,000 miles away in California…that Flock’s [cop-siccing chatbot] was unable to handle…

Panopticon (#1648)

In surveillance, fascism beats communism hands down:

Cops across [California] accessed the Orange County Sheriff’s Department’s…Flock S[urveillance]…ALPR…system at least 145 times to track protesters within the span of a year and seven months…Eleven [cop shops]…as far as…400 miles away, searched for protesters…on or around dates when protests against ICE were held…Cops are required by state law to list the reason for [warrantless] searching…but the[y]…have been [trained to “be as vague as permissible” so most “reasons” are]…vague one-word responses…A Flock [mouthpiece absurdly barfed]…“leverage”…[and] “crimes” [at reporters]…and…OCSD…[idiotically denied the word “protest” means] Flock is…used to track protesters…

Pyrrhic Victory (#1651) 

This is only the beginning:

An internal Madison Square Garden database…a[ssigns]…“risk [scores” to]…roughly 400 celebrities…[out of] 39,539 entries in the so-called “talent” database…which…is part of a much larger trove of documents published last month by ShinyHunters, a[n anti-fascist] hacker collective…a celebrity…marked with a risk score…means “you’ve done something [on]…social media…that has caught the attention of the wrong people”…People…are ranked on a scale…“Flag” is the lowest…next is “low risk” [including] Falco, [Tracy] Morgan, and Ben Stiller…After that is “medium risk” [including] Lily Allen, her ex David Harbour, and…country singer Morgan Wallen) and “high risk” (the hip-hop stars Freddie Gibbs, Lil Jon, DaBaby, and A Boogie Wit da Hoodie).  The rapper Lil Tjay…is “BANNED FROM MSG”…The…database also tracks some celebrities’ race, gender identity, and sexual orientation; 93 entries are marked as “LGBTQIA”…

Mad Libs (#1654)

Which is greater, Zuckerberg’s greed or his psychopathy?

[Facebook] quietly announced that [its pervert] glasses’ Conversation Focus feature will soon be limited to three hours of use per month, unless [owner is willing to] pay for a $19.99 M[onthly] subscription…The Conversation Focus feature, which amplifies the voice of [nearby people so as to facilitate eavesdropping]…runs on-device, using the chips inside the glasses…[which don’t] require an internet connection …[the feature] isn’t as [morally repugnant]…as…facial recognition [but Zuckerberg is apparently banking on the moral imbeciles who buy these surveillance tools wanting to hear while they leer]…

Stalkers in Blue (#1656)

With warrantless surveillance, no woman is safe from cops:

A [Florida cop named Lamar Roman sped] 70 MPH down a two-lane highway…over a bridge in the Florida Keys…passe[d two] dump truck[s] in a no-passing zone…[and] nearly caus[ed] a head-on collision…[while stal]king and chasing a woman that he met and harassed on the set of the…TV…show Bad Monkey, [for] which he had worked a security detail shift…After…catcalling her and harassing her for her full name and Instagram details, the [dangerous sleazebag] illegally looked up her vehicle information on DAVID, a Florida Department of Motor Vehicles database for [cops]…He then put her license plate details on a surveillance “hotlist,” meaning he would get a notification in real time anytime she drove by an A[LPR]…Roman…was caught and arrested in March…[his victim] told investigators that she tried to be “standoffish” to deter him…[but] Roman would not leave [her] alone….[and threatened] to pull [her] over…in the [future]…

 

I find paywalls distasteful, and so many people find this blog valuable as a resource I just can’t bring myself to install one.  Furthermore, I find ad delivery services (whose content I have no say over) even more distasteful.  But as I’m now semi-retired from sex work, I can’t self-sponsor this blog by myself any longer.  So if you value my writing enough that you would pay to see it if it were paywalled, please consider subscribing; there are four different levels to fit all budgets.  Or if that doesn’t work for you, please consider showing your generosity with a one-time donation; you can Paypal to maggiemcneill@earthlink.net or else email me at the same address to make other arrangements.  Thanks so much!

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I’m not sure why Amazon decided people who send gifts from others’ wishlists don’t need to be thanked, but that’s exactly what it has done.  It used to be possible to send a sender a “Thank You” email, which may be superfluous if the sender and recipient know each other in real life, but is very important to those of us who receive gifts from those who admire our work online.  For several years now, though, I had noticed that though it was still possible to send such a message, the gift sender rarely received it.  Then some months ago I realized it was no longer possible to even send one; when I got three anniversary gifts recently, I decided to dig through the “wishlist help” to see if they’d merely hidden the function in some submenu somewhere.  But no; I soon found a clear statement that it was not possible to send it at all.  So I really hope the readers who sent me a DVD of Sinners, a collection of four Kurt Vonnegut novels, and The Lensman Anthology, all see this and accept my thanks for your generosity; I never want anyone to think I take such gifts for granted, even if Amazon believes such respect for one’s audience is somehow outmoded.

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I used to try to explain when a young or pre-menopausal woman makes some sort of confident statement about what she will be like post-menopause. Now I just shrug and say, "You'll find out soon enough."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-17T17:21:31.990Z

It's always amusing to me when a paywall demanding I provide my personal information is followed almost immediately by a popup admitting they will sell that information to anybody who wants it.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-18T18:46:19.972Z

"Mmmm, a meat-free savoury loaf!" said no hungry person ever.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-19T18:57:53.004Z

The best part of this algae bloom is, it only needs to stay in place for two more weeks from today to achieve maximum humiliation value for Trump and the whole MAGA movement. After the 4th, it can vanish overnight; what will be remembered is the perfect metaphor for the semiquincentennial.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-20T17:51:22.612Z

5 million djinn and imps working 24/7 can build Baghdad in ≈ 6 months. Now just imagine what the world looks like when we have 10 billion of them by 800. Now imagine the year 1000. Amazing abundance for all!

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-21T17:27:00.933Z

I don't generally call attention to toxic filth from Twitter, but if you're still on Twitter at all you may want to look up this sewer outlet which calls human beings "farm equipment" just for the pleasure of blocking it.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-23T17:52:42.652Z

"It’s Donald Trump’s violent, pawing need, not to win, but to be *seen* to have won. To see *himself* as a winner or, when observable reality disagrees, to declare war on reality. It’s the president’s shrieking demand that everyone else join him in waging war upon a mirror."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T16:58:10.225Z

Why are the US media and Democratic politicians so averse to recognizing that SCOTUS judges can be impeached?

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-25T18:01:45.727Z

A new dimension of "throwing like a girl".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T03:27:07.509Z

This is actually a good way to deal with drive-by commenters on social media."This is stupid!""OK."They don't know how to continue when you refuse to give them the theatrical conflict they crave.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T18:12:37.049Z

Maybe they're all ninjas, disguising themselves by becoming blades of grass.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-28T18:06:43.769Z

Musk is a Bond supervillain. Zuckerberg is a Batman supervillain.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-06-30T07:37:56.774Z

Well come ON! If you looked like that, you'd be depressed, too.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-01T17:52:32.638Z

THANK YOU.It's rare to see *anyone* who grasps this nowadays, even though it's right there in the name of the movement.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-02T17:43:57.214Z

The Trump regime keeps people from entering the US "because of who they are" all the time.Monkey see, monkey do.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-04T17:43:32.766Z

Without a doubt, it would have to be the guy who said that any female character in a fantasy story with extraordinary powers was a "Mary Sue".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-06T19:08:47.786Z

Another American institution destroyed by private equity: http://www.salon.com/2026/07/03/h…

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-07T17:02:26.485Z

As a former reference librarian, I can tell you what people did before Google. (HINT: it wasn't sitting around helplessly wishing for the information.)

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-08T07:57:06.570Z

I spoke with Mitch McConnell for twenty minutes this morning. He told me he had meddled in things that man must leave alone.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-09T08:13:53.616Z

Reminds me of this argument which anyone who knew teen boys in the late '70s & early '80s will remember:Boy 1: Rob Halford is not gay!Boy 2: Dude, he's gay. Look at his costumes.Boy 1: Leather is tough, not gay!Boy 2: What about gay leather dudes?Boy 1: They stole that from bikers!Boy 2: …..

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-11T18:16:55.618Z

Every so often the very first tweet I see from someone is so absolutely, moronically authoritarian, I block them instantly to spare myself from ever seeing another violently-stupid utterance from them.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-12T17:12:55.939Z

"Verify your age"Fuck you! In my day, computers didn't talk back or make demands. And we watched TV by attaching the set to an antenna.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-13T17:03:24.239Z

So very many words to say, "I don't understand the concept of hubris and anyone who tries to explain it to me is Satan."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-14T17:41:15.926Z

"The alternative would be to admit that we as a nation have done what we have in fact done, which is install a demented narcissistic madman as president."

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-15T17:58:14.068Z

Partisanism is a form of brain rot. Today's example: claiming the increasingly-totalitarian Trump regime is "anti-government".If Trump's metastasizing police state is "anti-government", I shudder to think what a "pro-government" regime would look like.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-16T17:03:55.420Z

People used to think I was kooky for refusing to eat green, leafy vegetables and uncooked or undercooked food.

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-18T03:39:10.780Z

My favorite Sanders tell is how his refrain used to be blaming "millionaires and billionaires" for everything until someone correctly pointed out that SANDERS is a millionaire, at which point he switched to just blaming "billionaires".

Maggie McNeill (@maggiemcneill.bsky.social) 2026-07-19T16:53:53.906Z

 

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