DEV Community: Al

Still Remembering Aaron Bushnell. Some live, though they are already dead; others have died, yet are still alive.

Al — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 22:00:42 +0000

Without people like Edward Snowden, Aaron Bushnell and Luigi Nicholas Mangione, it would be a country without any hope, future or conscience, but filled only with pedophiles, ICE, snobbery, cruelty, racism and fascism.

As the Austrian writer Thomas Bernhard once said: „Wenn ich bei Verstand wäre, hätte ich mich längst umgebracht.“

God, please kick the pedophiles out, and bring Aaron Bushnell back!

Some live,

When they are already dead;

Others have died,

But are still alive.

Final words by Aron Bushnell

Many of us like to ask ourselves, 'What would I do if I was alive during slavery? Or the Jim Crow South? Or apartheid? What would I do if my country was committing genocide?' The answer is, you're doing it. Right now.

My name is Aaron Bushnell, I am an active-duty member of the United States Air Force, and I will no longer be complicit in genocide. I'm about to engage in an extreme act of protest, but compared to what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers, it's not extreme at all. This is what our ruling class has decided will be normal.

I am sorry to my brother and my friends for leaving you like this. Of course, if I was truly sorry, I wouldn't be doing it. But the machine demands blood. None of this is fair.
I wish for my remains to be cremated. I do not wish for my ashes to be scattered or my remains to be buried as my body does not belong anywhere in this world. If a time comes when Palestinians regain control of their land, and if the people native to the land would be open to the possibility, I would love for my ashes to be scattered in a free Palestine.

From Wikipedia:

On February 25, 2024, Aaron Bushnell, a 25-year-old serviceman of the United States Air Force, died after setting himself on fire outside the front gate of the Embassy of Israel in Washington, D.C. Immediately before the act, which was live-streamed on Twitch, Bushnell said that he was protesting against "what people have been experiencing in Palestine at the hands of their colonizers" and declared that he "will no longer be complicit in genocide", after which he doused himself with a flammable liquid and set himself on fire.

Where Is The Love? by Black Eyed Peas

Overseas ya we tryin to stop terrorism

But we still got terrorists here livin

In the U.S.A, the big C.I.A

The bloods and the crips, and the KKK

Too Great to Be Believed, Too Shameless to Be Ashamed

Al — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 07:51:48 +0000

After Trump plagiarized the well-known slogan originally used by Ronald Reagan, many parody slogans have appeared, such as: "Make Japan Great Again", "Make China Great Again", "Make Argentina Great Again".

However, I don't think Chinese people need to "Make China Great Again". China is already great enough—so great that it is hard to believe, a kind of greatness filled with magical realism.

For instance, in China, there's a truly "great" term called "maliciously demanding unpaid wages".
Today, the phrase is widely used ironically a phrase used to mock bureaucratic victim-blaming or the perceived protection of corporate interests over workers' rights.

Only the greatest country could invent such "great" terms as: "maliciously claiming unpaid wages" and "benevolently withholding unpaid wages".

Yes, China is already great enough—too great to be believed.

Too shameless to be ashamed.

Skip the paywalls

Al — Sun, 01 Nov 2026 06:16:18 +0000

Solutions:

Freedium / Medium-Unlocker

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Firefox + Obsidian web clipper + Obsidian

@chotamreaderbot

Other tools:

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Markdown to Epub

José Mujica

Al — Fri, 30 Oct 2026 05:36:20 +0000

After watching the story of José Mujica, a poem by the renowned Chinese poet — Zang Kejia truly resonated with me.

As president, José Mujica donated 90% of his $12000 monthly salary to people in need and never took advantage of his country, Uruguay. His entire net worth consisted of a suburban farm, two plots of land, two cars, two tractors, and less than $200k in bank savings.

By contrast, as president, Donald Trump nominally agreed to a $1 annual salary, yet he and his family made $2.4 billion in 2025. He also refused to release his tax returns after being elected president the first time in 2016, although he promised to do so during his campaign.

Yes!
Some live,
When they are already dead;
Others have died,
But are still alive.

Some and Others
—In Memory of Lu Xun
Zang Kejia

Some live,
When they are already dead;
Others have died,
But are still alive.

Some
Ride on the backs of the people and cry: "How grand am I!"
Others
Silently bend to draw the people's plough.

Some
Inscribe their names on stone;
Others
Choose to be wild grass,
Await an eruption of fire.

The lives of some
Make life impossible for others.
The lives of others
Enable the majority to live better.

Those who ride on the backs of the people
Will be thrown to the ground;
Those who plough for them
Will be cherished in their memory for ever.

The names inscribed on stone
Will rot sooner than their namesake flesh.
Wherever the spring wind reaches,
There will be green grass.

Lives that preclude others lives
Come to a predictable end.
Lives that create better lives
Will be deeply revered.

Soy José Mujica, campesino para ganarme la vida en la primera etapa de mi vida. Después me dediqué a luchar por cambiar y mejorar la vida de mi sociedad.

Ahora estoy en una etapa de presidente, trabajando por mejorar el ser humano. Y mañana, como cualquier hijo de vecino, voy a ser un montón de gusanos que se va.

Tuve algunos inconvenientes: varias heridas, unos cuantos años de cárcel... cosas de rutina en quien se mete a transformar el mundo. Sigo vivo por milagro; por encima de todas las cosas, amo la vida.

Quisiera llegar al último viaje como quien llega a un mostrador y le pide al dueño del bar: "Sirva otra vuelta".

要点总结

身份转变：穆希卡描述了自己从务农的农民到致力于社会变革的战士，再到国家总统的人生轨迹。
坦然面对苦难：他将革命斗争中遭受的枪伤和多年监禁视为改变世界的“常规代价”，展现了极其豁达的人生观。
生命哲学：他表达了对生命的热爱，并希望以一种像在酒吧要求“再来一杯”般的从容姿态面对人生的终点。

A notorious criminal family

Al — Thu, 29 Oct 2026 04:02:49 +0000

Many years later, people won't remember either the Tate brothers or the Alexander brothers, but they will remember a notorious criminal family called the Trump family.

https://readwise.io/reader/shared/01m62wdmvbaxbhc7j2f8jy7w3d/

https://readwise.io/reader/shared/01m62wc3a60wvk5c313910zmh3/

https://freedium-mirror.cfd/https://www.nytimes.com/2026/03/20/nyregion/alexander-brothers-pardon-white-house.html

The Eagle

Al — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 20:39:45 +0000

The Eagle

by Alfred, Lord Tennyson

He clasps the crag with crooked hands;

Close to the sun in lonely lands,

Ringed with the azure world, he stands.

The wrinkled sea beneath him crawls;

He watches from his mountain walls,

And like a thunderbolt he falls.

poems

What we learned from Trump

Al — Mon, 26 Oct 2026 10:03:18 +0000

If he wins, it will be a great victory for democracy; if he loses, it must be a scam by the Democratic Party.

Today I came across some deep-dive long-reads by Whitney Webb on how various prominent figures were entangled with Jeffrey Epstein.

First Friends: How "Italy's Donald Trump" Introduced Naomi Campbell to Jeffrey Epstein Part I

First Friends: How the First Couple's Consigliere Went From Modeling Mogul to Special Envoy Part II

First Friends: How Andrew Farkas and an Emirati Sultan Helped Epstein Build a Smuggler's Paradise Part III

Paper Boats by Rabindranath Tagore

Al — Tue, 20 Oct 2026 05:26:37 +0000

Day by day I float my paper boats one by one down the running stream.
In big black letters I write my name on them and the name of the village where I live.
I hope that someone in some strange land will find them and know who I am.
I load my little boats with shiuli flowers from our garden, and hope that these blooms of the dawn will be carried safely to land in the night.
I launch my paper boats and look up into the sky and see the little clouds setting their white bulging sails.
I know not what playmate of mine in the sky sends them down the air to race with my boats!
When night comes I bury my face in my arms and dream that my paper boats float on and on under the midnight stars.
The fairies of sleep are sailing in them, and the lading is their baskets full of dreams.

Ode to the west wind

Al — Mon, 12 Oct 2026 06:17:53 +0000

Ode To The West Wind

by Percy Bysshe Shelley

O wild West Wind, thou breath of Autumn's being,
Thou, from whose unseen presence the leaves dead
Are driven, like ghosts from an enchanter fleeing,

Yellow, and black, and pale, and hectic red,
Pestilence-stricken multitudes: 0 thou,
Who chariotest to their dark wintry bed

The wingèd seeds, where they lie cold and low,
Each like a corpse within its grave,until
Thine azure sister of the Spring shall blow

Her clarion o'er the dreaming earth, and fill
(Driving sweet buds like flocks to feed in air)
With living hues and odours plain and hill:

Wild Spirit, which art moving everywhere;
Destroyer and Preserver; hear, O hear!

Thou on whose stream, 'mid the steep sky's commotion,
Loose clouds like Earth's decaying leaves are shed,
Shook from the tangled boughs of Heaven and Ocean,

Angels of rain and lightning: there are spread
On the blue surface of thine airy surge,
Like the bright hair uplifted from the head

Of some fierce Maenad, even from the dim verge
Of the horizon to the zenith's height,
The locks of the approaching storm. Thou dirge

Of the dying year, to which this closing night
Will be the dome of a vast sepulchre
Vaulted with all thy congregated might

Of vapours, from whose solid atmosphere
Black rain, and fire, and hail will burst: O hear!

III

Thou who didst waken from his summer dreams
The blue Mediterranean, where he lay,
Lulled by the coil of his crystalline streams,

Beside a pumice isle in Baiae's bay,
And saw in sleep old palaces and towers
Quivering within the wave's intenser day,

All overgrown with azure moss and flowers
So sweet, the sense faints picturing them! Thou
For whose path the Atlantic's level powers

Cleave themselves into chasms, while far below
The sea-blooms and the oozy woods which wear
The sapless foliage of the ocean, know

Thy voice, and suddenly grow grey with fear,
And tremble and despoil themselves: O hear!

If I were a dead leaf thou mightest bear;
If I were a swift cloud to fly with thee;
A wave to pant beneath thy power, and share

The impulse of thy strength, only less free
Than thou, O Uncontrollable! If even
I were as in my boyhood, and could be

The comrade of thy wanderings over Heaven,
As then, when to outstrip thy skiey speed
Scarce seemed a vision; I would ne'er have striven

As thus with thee in prayer in my sore need.
Oh! lift me as a wave, a leaf, a cloud!
I fall upon the thorns of life! I bleed!

A heavy weight of hours has chained and bowed
One too like thee: tameless, and swift, and proud.

Make me thy lyre, even as the forest is:
What if my leaves are falling like its own!
The tumult of thy mighty harmonies

Will take from both a deep, autumnal tone,
Sweet though in sadness. Be thou, Spirit fierce,
My spirit! Be thou me, impetuous one!

Drive my dead thoughts over the universe
Like withered leaves to quicken a new birth!
And, by the incantation of this verse,

Scatter, as from an unextinguished hearth
Ashes and sparks, my words among mankind!
Be through my lips to unawakened Earth

The trumpet of a prophecy! O Wind,
If Winter comes, can Spring be far behind?

The Loneliness of Americans

Al — Sat, 10 Oct 2026 06:03:46 +0000

The Loneliness of Americans

Loneliness has a thousand faces; the loneliness of Americans and that of the Japanese are two typical ones.

Both Americans and the Japanese are highly independent people unwilling to disturb others. However, the loneliness of the Japanese is visible, while that of Americans is invisible. Making friends with the Japanese takes a long while, because the Japanese are introverted and hard to befriend; building a relationship and trust with them is a slow process. You must pay close attention to the details of befriending them.

It is relatively easy to make an American friend, thanks to the easygoing and outgoing character of Americans. Even so, Americans actually have a tiered system for their friends. So in most cases, there is no need to take their pleasantries seriously — mostly they are enthusiastically open-minded and cheerful, and it is quite common for them to forget what they said. Even if you regard something as a commitment, they may have meant it as a joke. Due to the existing strong sense of boundaries, Americans are really not as sociable as you might think. They keep their distance even with their friends.

By contrast, the Chinese love to be surrounded by many friends and believe that true friends shouldn't keep distance or maintain excessive boundaries. Chinese people living in the U.S. sometimes feel like collapsing for lack of the bustling, lively social atmosphere. The downside, however, is that the Chinese often fall out with one another over conflicts of interest.

Sometimes, people may mistakenly think that Americans live as carefree and happy a life as Hollywood movies show them. In fact, although Americans are naturally more optimistic than the Japanese or the Chinese, most middle-class Americans still feel breathless under the heavy weight of life. Like the Japanese and the Chinese, Americans won't let people know their troubles, either. As a result, even their closest friends may not know their private concerns. Even with friends around them, Americans still feel lonely from time to time.

The loneliness of the Japanese is one you can see at a glance, whereas the loneliness of Americans is one hidden behind their smiling faces.

美国人的孤独

孤独有很多种，美国人和日本人的孤独是比较典型的两种。

美国人和日本人都很独立，都不愿意麻烦别人，但日本人的孤独是显性的孤独，而美国人的孤独是隐性的孤独。日本人因为性格内向，所以不易交友，和日本人交友需要很长时间建立信任，而且需要注意很多细节方面的东西。

美国人性格开朗，所以和美国人交友相对简单，但是美国人实际上应该对朋友有一定的分级制度，所以多数情况下，因为美国人比较热情开朗，有时候说的东西很快就忘了，所以对他们的客套话当真是没有任何必要的。有时候你认为他们给了你一个承诺，而他们当时也许就是开玩笑。由于存在较强的边界感，所以美国人实际上并不像你想得那样亲近，即使是朋友也会有一定的距离。

相比之下，中国人喜欢被一群朋友环绕，并认为真正的朋友不应该有距离，以及那种过度的边界感。在美国生活的中国人时而会感到崩溃，因为缺乏了那种热闹的社交环境。但缺点是，中国人会因为利益闹得不欢而散。

有时，人们会误以为美国人像电影里一样无拘无束，非常开心。但事实是，虽然美国人相较于中国人或者日本人确实比较乐观，但生活的重压让大多数美国中产阶级都喘不过气。与中国人跟日本人一样，美国人也不喜欢让人知道自己的烦恼，所以，即使是很亲密的朋友也不一定就知道他们的心事。即使有朋友，美国人还是会时不时感到孤独。

日本人的孤独是让人一眼就能感受到的孤独，而美国人的孤独是那种藏在笑脸里的孤独。

This is also posted on my blog.
https://v.hieronymus.uk/p/the-loneliness-of-americans/

https://dev.to/carelessw/the-loneliness-of-americans-pmk

Do you really think Epstein's closest friend's presidency is better than Sleepy Joe's?

Al — Fri, 09 Oct 2026 06:18:12 +0000

Do you really think Epstein's closest friend's presidency is better than Sleepy Joe's?

The orange guy said he wouldn't apologize for the skyrocketing cost of gasoline because Iran might soon have nuclear weapons. Do you actually agree with him?

He himself, his entire family, and his rich friends have already made billions upon billions of dollars — openly, immorally, shamelessly, and corruptly — by exploiting loopholes in the system and colluding with his notorious associates.

Corruption has existed in every administration, but you rarely see a corrupt government in such an unethical and unacceptable state.

He vowed to drain the swamp in Washington, D.C. Yet when you consider the Epstein scandal, he looks like the dirtiest creature the swamp has ever seen.

We should feel happy for poor people who chose such a corrupt, crooked liar, only to be squeezed ruthlessly by him.

Idiots — you've gotten exactly what you wanted.