Paul
@paulanomaly.bsky.social
Writer, musician, teacher, Daddy. Starting a new chapter of my life in rural Appalachia, looking for a life more vivid and authentic with enough time for my family. And looking to connect without generating content and profit for huge, evil corporations.
I kinda miss "conspiracy theories." Now that our ruler openly tells his minions to "cheat like hell" and his whole cabinet and the billionaire oligarchs openly commit felonies daily, there's just no sense of mystery or subtlety in paying attention to power and politics anymore.
October 6, 2026 at 9:53 AM
I kinda miss "conspiracy theories." Now that our ruler openly tells his minions to "cheat like hell" and his whole cabinet and the billionaire oligarchs openly commit felonies daily, there's just no sense of mystery or subtlety in paying attention to power and politics anymore.
Reposted by Paul
David Graeber on a free society.
October 5, 2026 at 4:38 PM
David Graeber on a free society.
They just wheeled my baby boy back for his first surgery and anaesthesia. He's fine and giggling, but where's MY squirt of liquid Ativan???
October 5, 2026 at 3:36 PM
They just wheeled my baby boy back for his first surgery and anaesthesia. He's fine and giggling, but where's MY squirt of liquid Ativan???
Which leaves liberals whinging, "Sure it's not perfect, but it's better than monarchy, the extreme alternative in one direction! So it's our only alternative!" Except, of course, for the alternative in the opposite direction: the way humans organised themselves for nearly all of our history.
October 5, 2026 at 11:44 AM
Which leaves liberals whinging, "Sure it's not perfect, but it's better than monarchy, the extreme alternative in one direction! So it's our only alternative!" Except, of course, for the alternative in the opposite direction: the way humans organised themselves for nearly all of our history.
It could be argued that the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution address these basic problems...but the history of the USA, especially recently, demonstrates that the ostensible "rule of law" really just means rule by lawyers and judges. And if they don't feel like playing by the rules...
October 5, 2026 at 11:40 AM
It could be argued that the Bill of Rights and the rest of the Constitution address these basic problems...but the history of the USA, especially recently, demonstrates that the ostensible "rule of law" really just means rule by lawyers and judges. And if they don't feel like playing by the rules...
Who would have come up with the idea of majority rule as the definition of fairness?
I don't know, but I'm pretty sure who didn't: minorities.
I don't know, but I'm pretty sure who didn't: minorities.
October 5, 2026 at 11:35 AM
Who would have come up with the idea of majority rule as the definition of fairness?
I don't know, but I'm pretty sure who didn't: minorities.
I don't know, but I'm pretty sure who didn't: minorities.
In this way we can view democracy and majority rule not as a methodology for peace, but as war deferred, possibly at a steep interest rate.
October 5, 2026 at 11:34 AM
In this way we can view democracy and majority rule not as a methodology for peace, but as war deferred, possibly at a steep interest rate.
Graeber points out that this makes perfect sense (only) in pirate crews or other scenarios where citizens are armed and dangerous; voting is really just counting your potential enemies in the violence that may ensue from the failure to achieve consensus.
October 5, 2026 at 11:32 AM
Graeber points out that this makes perfect sense (only) in pirate crews or other scenarios where citizens are armed and dangerous; voting is really just counting your potential enemies in the violence that may ensue from the failure to achieve consensus.
Democracy is the belief that for one person to rule over nine is tyranny, but for three to rule over seven is paradise, if five don't vote, perhaps because they were persuaded, prevented or just disenfranchised.
October 5, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Democracy is the belief that for one person to rule over nine is tyranny, but for three to rule over seven is paradise, if five don't vote, perhaps because they were persuaded, prevented or just disenfranchised.
"The Right Wing is good at making people feel good about all their worst impulses; the Left Wing is good at making people feel bad about all their best." - Starhawk
October 2, 2026 at 3:09 AM
"The Right Wing is good at making people feel good about all their worst impulses; the Left Wing is good at making people feel bad about all their best." - Starhawk
Hey, bird lovers - if you've been worried about bald eagles, fear less; we see 'em all the time around here, and golden eagles too now and then. The other day we even saw a bald eagle getting mobbed by our holler's crows, and a second bald eagle came to join the fracas.
October 1, 2026 at 6:33 PM
Hey, bird lovers - if you've been worried about bald eagles, fear less; we see 'em all the time around here, and golden eagles too now and then. The other day we even saw a bald eagle getting mobbed by our holler's crows, and a second bald eagle came to join the fracas.
Her logic and conclusions may have been highly questionable and debatable, but she herself was neither.
October 1, 2026 at 6:31 PM
Her logic and conclusions may have been highly questionable and debatable, but she herself was neither.
September 28, 2026 at 10:26 PM
September 23, 2026 at 11:48 PM
If you dated a woman and it didn't go great, you're not yet qualified to say, "I tried dating women. It's not for me."
If you tried therapy with one therapist from one style of therapy and it didn't help, you're not yet qualified to say, "I tried therapy. It's not for me."
If you tried therapy with one therapist from one style of therapy and it didn't help, you're not yet qualified to say, "I tried therapy. It's not for me."
September 21, 2026 at 10:26 PM
If you dated a woman and it didn't go great, you're not yet qualified to say, "I tried dating women. It's not for me."
If you tried therapy with one therapist from one style of therapy and it didn't help, you're not yet qualified to say, "I tried therapy. It's not for me."
If you tried therapy with one therapist from one style of therapy and it didn't help, you're not yet qualified to say, "I tried therapy. It's not for me."
September 20, 2026 at 1:51 PM
Much harvesting today.
September 19, 2026 at 8:47 PM
Much harvesting today.
It's one of those mornings in #Appalachia when you grab your sunglasses 'cuz the sky's cloudless...then you head out and everything down in town is socked in fogbound 'cuz around here we wake up with our heads not just literally in the clouds but quite often up above them.
September 16, 2026 at 1:31 PM
It's one of those mornings in #Appalachia when you grab your sunglasses 'cuz the sky's cloudless...then you head out and everything down in town is socked in fogbound 'cuz around here we wake up with our heads not just literally in the clouds but quite often up above them.
How much of what I think of as my identity is just these stories and songs and crap I carry around in my skull waiting for the day when someone outside my skull might actually give a fuck about them?
What would it be like to just let them go?
What would it be like to just let them go?
September 15, 2026 at 7:40 AM
How much of what I think of as my identity is just these stories and songs and crap I carry around in my skull waiting for the day when someone outside my skull might actually give a fuck about them?
What would it be like to just let them go?
What would it be like to just let them go?
September 12, 2026 at 11:25 AM
September 12, 2026 at 11:05 AM
I used to kinda aspire to being recognised as someone who wasn't always staring at his phone...now I understand that people who are always staring at their phones don't notice who isn't staring at a phone.
September 12, 2026 at 11:03 AM
I used to kinda aspire to being recognised as someone who wasn't always staring at his phone...now I understand that people who are always staring at their phones don't notice who isn't staring at a phone.