When Roman emperors ran out of ideas, they promised #BreadAndCircuses. Trump’s speech was full of circuses, including a lengthy celebration of the U.S. men’s Olympic hockey team. But he’s *no* Roman emperor: He made a point of reminding the American people that his administration is providing a lot less #food to the #poor (having “lifted” 2.4 million people off #FoodStamps).

#Trump #clown #SOTU #FoodInsecutity

A quotation from Jean-Paul Marat

   In order to subdue his subjects, the Prince labours to blind them. Conscious of the unlawfulness of his own designs, and sensible of what he has to fear from clear-sighted men, he endeavours to deprive the people of every means of acquiring knowledge.
   How many crafty devices have not Princes employed to oppose the progress of learning? Some banish science out of their dominions; others prohibit their subjects from traveling into foreign countries; others again divert the people from reflecting, by continually entertaining them with feasts and shews, or keeping up among the the spirit of gaming; and all stand up against men of spirit, who dedicate either their voices or their pen to defend the cause of liberty.
 
[Persuadés d’ailleurs combien il est commode de régner sur un peuple abruti, ils [les princes] s’efforcent de le rendre tel. Que d’obstacles n’opposent-ils pas au progrès des lumières? Les uns bannissent les lettres de leurs Etats; les autres défendent à leurs sujets de voyager; d’autres empêchent le peuple de réfléchir, en l’amusant continuellement par des parades, des spectacles, des fêtes, ou en le livrant aux fureurs du jeu. Tous s’élèvent contre les sages qui consacrent leur voix et leur plume à défendre la cause de la liberté.]

Jean-Paul Marat (1743-1793) French physician, political theorist, scientist, journalist
The Chains of Slavery [Les Chaînes de L’Esclavage], ch. 40 “Of Ignorance” (1774) [Beckett ed. (1774)]

More info about (and translations of) this quote: wist.info/marat-jean-paul/8000…

#quote #quotes #quotation #qotd #jeanpaulmarat #breadandcircuses #censorship #distraction #education #ignorance #isolation #learning #nationalism #suppression #tyranny

Yay! More #BreadAndCircuses

I don't normally watch live streaming events, so listening to national broadcasters and seeing commercials is _really_ disorienting and alien to me. I will suffer through it for the spectacle 🎉

#GoMs #Baseball

Being a masochistic #SeattleMariners baseball fan finally pays off tonight after 24 years. That was an exhausting vicarious five hours.

On to the Championship Series!🎉

#Baseball #MLB #BreadAndCircuses #GoMs

For tonight's #SeattleMariners playoff game, the Puget Sound Seismic Network has "installed the Richter Rizz seismic station at T-Mobile" to "track the energy in the ballpark":

The site just went live now(16:30PST):

https://preview.pnsn.org/experiments/2025-mariners/alds-game-5

#Baseball #MLB #Earthquakes #SeismicMeasurement #PSSN #GoMs #BreadAndCircuses

Mariners Viewer

Pacific Northwest Seismic Network

How will people's lives change if they know for sure that Musk's, Thiel's and Trump's names are in the Epstein files?

How will those files help fight #fascism, #technofascism and the sky rocketing economic #inequality?

They won't. It's just another distraction so that real problems, like the skyrocketing income inequality between the rich and the average American, never get discussed or solved.

https://prospect.org/economy/2025-09-22-clamoring-to-tax-the-rich/

#USpol #breadAndCircuses

Clamoring to Tax the Rich

In Berkeley, New York, Paris, and Vatican City, it’s become central to political battles—and religious concerns.

The American Prospect

I love that my #orioles and my #mariners are digging into a strong September to get above 10 under .500 and leading the AL West, respectively, but...

Let's not have any of that interfere with my #bluejays entrenching a solid AL East win and the AL top seed.

Thank you for your attention to this matter!

#mlb #breadandcircuses #toronto #elbowsup

Also, I can't believe we aren't still booking the #mairikkkan anthem, fuuuuuck.