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Ben Phelps

@thisisbenphelps

Musician and self-declared public intellectual

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Latest posts by Ben Phelps @thisisbenphelps

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Sen. Ron Johnson opposes Congress voting on Iran war because it would 'show us divided' NPR's Steve Inskeep asks Republican Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin for his perspective of the conflict in the Middle East and the failed Senate effort to restrain U.S. military actions against Iran.

pretty crazy here's the link he sounds very tired www.npr.org/2026/03/05/n...

05.03.2026 19:02 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0
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So Ron Johnson's attempted defense of his war powers vote on NPR this morning is something else. He basically said we can't vote on the war, it's too unpopular.

05.03.2026 18:58 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
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Amazon's $8 billion Anthropic investment balloons to $61 billion The cloud giant holds convertible notes in Anthropic. As the AI startup raises more money, this debt converts to equity.

If the Washington Post story above sounds like PR for Anthropic, that's because it is! Amazon has invested billions of dollars in Anthropic. Jeff Bezos, of course, owns both the Washington Post and Amazon.

05.03.2026 05:03 πŸ‘ 930 πŸ” 283 πŸ’¬ 12 πŸ“Œ 13

Is this what Glen Beck looks like now or is this AI George Washington

05.03.2026 05:00 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

is this what Glen Beck looks like now or is this AI George Washington

05.03.2026 04:59 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Whatever we can actually do, we can afford.

05.03.2026 04:47 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

War spending gets in the way of healthcare when the real resources are diverted. Are factories being used to build weapons instead of develop vaccines? Are people going to work for the war effort instead of becoming doctors and nurses? That's what matters economically.

05.03.2026 04:47 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

It's a very good *political* argument that "we're paying a billion dollars a day to bomb Iran instead of paying for universal healthcare" but it's not based in *economic* reality. We can actually do both.

05.03.2026 02:30 πŸ‘ 6 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

the defense appropriations is a bit trickier

05.03.2026 00:15 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Dems seem confused about messaging again I think the correct message is "Donald Trump should be impeached for starting an illegal war"

05.03.2026 00:14 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Mad king.

03.03.2026 20:15 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 1 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Going to war without congressional approval is impreachable

27.02.2026 19:56 πŸ‘ 37 πŸ” 6 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

leak drip drip

24.02.2026 20:22 πŸ‘ 4 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

dumb

24.02.2026 20:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

NY property tax has a lot of problems but so does calling it "regressive".

22.02.2026 19:10 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

the first 3 things on your list are less important than the 4th

22.02.2026 16:16 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

what did the robot tell them to do

22.02.2026 07:09 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

was it staring at its phone?

22.02.2026 06:58 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

I've been highly skeptical of this from long ago as I know several people that have destroyed their lives through early weed addictions. It shouldn't be illegal, but the number of people I had telling me in like 2004 "no, it's actually good for you" was crazy.

22.02.2026 05:12 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

I don't have a ton of interest in saving local TV news they're on their own

22.02.2026 05:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

yes collectively small publishers are leaving millions of dollars on the table by not monetizing this demand. It could save the business!

22.02.2026 05:02 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

finding a work around to scam them out of money to keep them in business isn't exactly a win

22.02.2026 05:00 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

Seriously though local newspapers need to be able to sell their articles "a la carte" and I've been saying this forever but nobody has yet set up a way to make this easy and seamless

22.02.2026 03:58 πŸ‘ 2 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

because you won't pay for a subscription (perhaps not literally you)

22.02.2026 03:56 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 2 πŸ“Œ 0

is there a medical emergency of some sort in Greenland?

22.02.2026 03:33 πŸ‘ 0 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0

Invading Iran without congressional assent should be impeachable one would think

22.02.2026 03:32 πŸ‘ 3 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

probably not a bad strategy from TSA's perspective they are just the whipping boy in all of this

22.02.2026 03:27 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0

trying to punish the elites I guess (I admit to having global entry)

22.02.2026 03:06 πŸ‘ 1 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 1 πŸ“Œ 0
A chart showing traffic tickets issued in San Francisco, with a sharp drop that began in 2014, hit bottom in 2022 when just a few tickets were issued, and has now rebounded almost to 2014 levels.

A chart showing traffic tickets issued in San Francisco, with a sharp drop that began in 2014, hit bottom in 2022 when just a few tickets were issued, and has now rebounded almost to 2014 levels.

We’re back, baby!

21.02.2026 23:10 πŸ‘ 329 πŸ” 40 πŸ’¬ 8 πŸ“Œ 12

think how much happier we'd all be if we were all dead and AI just did everything

21.02.2026 21:55 πŸ‘ 5 πŸ” 0 πŸ’¬ 0 πŸ“Œ 0