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Rich Alderson

@alderson

historical linguist, quondam Tolkien language maven, systems administrator, PDP-10 programmer, former computer museum curator, @alderson@mastodon.sdf.org

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30.09.2023
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Latest posts by Rich Alderson @alderson

We need to be prepared to go full scorched earth on every fucking Dem who votes to confirm this shithead.

No mercy.

You vote for this, you are dead to us.

I could give a flying fuck that he's your Senate colleague who you sometimes have a drink with while he spews racial slurs.

05.03.2026 19:04 πŸ‘ 11 πŸ” 5 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Under the Geneva Conventions, you are required to rescue the crew of a ship that you sink during war. To leave them to drown is both illegal and depraved beyond belief. The US military fights with zero morals. It is today's Nazi army.

04.03.2026 20:48 πŸ‘ 68 πŸ” 25 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0
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At Spy we reported on and satirized Trump correctly, relentlessly and, as it turned out, presciently. Lately these bits have seemed especially apt and well-aged β€”from from our first cover story (1986) and a brilliant cartoon by @BruceHandy.bsky.social for our NBC TV show. youtu.be/oCN_uISlJ-k?...

04.03.2026 15:06 πŸ‘ 93 πŸ” 40 πŸ’¬ 10 πŸ“Œ 2
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Well would you look at that

05.03.2026 15:44 πŸ‘ 28238 πŸ” 7986 πŸ’¬ 841 πŸ“Œ 338

I.e. this is not really a firing. He's not ditching someone so usefully sadistic and corrupt.

05.03.2026 20:07 πŸ‘ 52 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 5 πŸ“Œ 0
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Two out of three Black Americans do not have a valid passport and passport ownership rises with income and age. So document demands hit young, Black and poor voters first. That is what SAVE is built to do. Tell your senators to keep SAVE off the floor and vote no on it #SaveActTaxesVoters

05.03.2026 18:28 πŸ‘ 61 πŸ” 40 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

wishing a very SLEEP WITH ONE EYE OPEN to all other anti-trans Democrats nervously looking ahead to their own primaries

04.03.2026 05:39 πŸ‘ 2135 πŸ” 352 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Breaking: Jeffrey Epstein correctly predicted Donald Trump would start a war with Iran! So any bullshit you hear about this war is for future peace is fucking nonsense. This attack has been in the works for several years at least since May of 2013. There are emails that prove it

01.03.2026 22:24 πŸ‘ 42 πŸ” 19 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 2
Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads:

The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you.

And our governments are very much the same...

- Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Picture of Marjane Satrapi alongside a quote from her. The quote reads: The world is not divided into countries. The world is not divided between East and West. You are American, I am Iranian, we don't know each other, but we talk together and we understand each other perfectly. The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same... - Marjane Satrapi, Iranian-French graphic novelist

Thinking about this quote from Persepolis creator Marjane Satrapi again.

28.02.2026 17:18 πŸ‘ 18790 πŸ” 8029 πŸ’¬ 42 πŸ“Œ 116

@gailsimone.bsky.social Can you repost this please? I feel perhaps this will be important to your fans and followers or just all around trans people in need.

28.02.2026 04:44 πŸ‘ 87 πŸ” 46 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Hmm. pulpit and pulping are both [Ι™] for me, and I don’t know the word bulbal so can’t say about that pair.

Texas, Mississippi, but not since 1970.

27.02.2026 08:04 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

It’s important in the Seattle area, because the bears dumpster dive behind the grocery stores and follow the garbage truck routes.

27.02.2026 03:10 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œye” is the old subject/vocative form, like β€œI/she/we/they”, and the verb usage is the same as it always was; the use of β€œyou” (the object form) for β€œye” did not change the verb’s form.

Ye are the children of a different time, and it was given to you to see the future.

27.02.2026 03:06 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Blame the late Roman Empire for using plural-as-formal/status, in concert with the β€œroyal/imperial we”. (In the Republic, *everyone* was β€œtu” to everyone else.)

3rd person as formal address comes even later./n

27.02.2026 03:02 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

β€œthee” is the object form; subject/vocative (address) is β€œthou”. This is the familiar/intimate form of address; it is used with a deity historically because the relationship is child worshipper to parent god./1

27.02.2026 02:58 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

@seananmcguire.bsky.social Mira Grant wrote this timeline, right?

26.02.2026 21:06 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
Preview
Trump’s Epstein Scandal Takes Damning Turn as Dem Drops New Bombshell As new revelations in the Jeffrey Epstein saga threaten the president, a legal expert decodes what we just learnedβ€”and lays out a roadmap to what will happen now.

"We are dealing now with an allegation that the president of the US raped and sexually assaulted a child and is now using his DOJ to try to cover that up."

If you want to understand latest Epstein revelations, @leahlitman.bsky.social explains them clearly on our pod:
newrepublic.com/article/2070...

25.02.2026 18:00 πŸ‘ 5324 πŸ” 2368 πŸ’¬ 158 πŸ“Œ 130

Your character in that case might not regularly use β€œye” after all./n

26.02.2026 21:03 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

By the time that happened, β€œthou/thee” was used only in religious contexts and by the Society of Friends as a rebellion against the use of the formal register for every person./2

26.02.2026 21:02 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Hmm. β€œYe” lasted longer than β€œthou” for social reasons, since the latter had become pejorative rather than simply familiar/informal in Elizabethan or Jacobean times. Both β€œye” and β€œyou” were reduced to [jΙ™] in speech, eventually falling together in informal registers in the 1700s./1

26.02.2026 21:00 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

I have the same fear.

And then how long before it starts getting used like a sex offender registry? You can't live while trans within five hundred yards of a school. You can't go to amusement parks or shopping malls.

The slope is slippery because it's covered in blood.

26.02.2026 20:22 πŸ‘ 21 πŸ” 8 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Quick prΓ©cis:
I me
thou thee
she/he her/him
we us
ye you
they them

If thou must use β€œthou/thee”, please be consistent and use β€œye” in the plural.

26.02.2026 08:07 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

The scary thing is, these really are the best people who will work for Trump.

24.02.2026 15:50 πŸ‘ 79 πŸ” 18 πŸ’¬ 3 πŸ“Œ 0

I think people should know that the person who took the position below is a member of the Texas bar and that her name is Mary Larakers.

25.02.2026 20:50 πŸ‘ 350 πŸ” 133 πŸ’¬ 4 πŸ“Œ 5
Preview
She’s raised almost $20m to help Minnesota – she thinks you can do it too Ashley Fairbanks launched Stand with Minnesota as ICE raids rocked her home town – now donations are pouring in, and families’ rent is being paid

Ashley Fairbanks @ziibiing.com launched Stand With Minnesota standwithminnesota.com, a mutual aid repository supporting residents under ICE's siege, in early Jan. in the weeks since, it's facilitated covering people's rents and flown folks detained back home from Texas.

she can help you do it, too.

24.02.2026 16:02 πŸ‘ 1003 πŸ” 385 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 14
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She fucking nailed it. πŸ˜†

25.02.2026 18:33 πŸ‘ 9087 πŸ” 1561 πŸ’¬ 211 πŸ“Œ 106

Important 🧡:

25.02.2026 18:36 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

🎀🎡Memories🎢

25.02.2026 06:47 πŸ‘ 3244 πŸ” 710 πŸ’¬ 30 πŸ“Œ 13

I got through 1000, but that was rough going. Fortunately, I had read JRRT’s Beowulf not all that long ago, or I would have choked around 1200.

24.02.2026 16:25 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

ß is in origin a digraph of the long s with z.

24.02.2026 16:21 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0