Justin Smith

[ismael 🎃🕷️ | playing kh1 @fathersofpeople]

Oh now you guys wanna talk about Venezuela? But all these years when people were being sent to jail and torture centers and dying of starvation and kidnapped and raped and silenced... Where was that energy? Nowhere cuz your left-wing governments were benefitting from that

[The Free Press @TheFP]

“We want peace, liberty, and justice for the great people of Venezuela,” President Donald Trump proclaimed in the hours after he sent American forces to arrest and detain the country’s longtime dictator, Nicolás Maduro.

Now, nearly 10 months later, it’s becoming increasingly clear that another reality is taking hold, one in which Venezuelans continue to suffer under the illegitimate leadership of Maduro’s former deputies.

https://t.co/OFx3gzEwAf

[Sir Rottweiler 🇺🇸🇬🇹🏳️‍🌈 @SireRottweiler]

It’s so fucking disrespectful to the history of civil rights leaders that the DSA constantly compares themselves to them, while treating protesting like a game & a cute opportunity for pictures.

Here’s what happened to Black Ppl protesting for their rights. Politics aren’t a game for some of us — although I understand why a trust fund baby DSAer might think that way.

[Lee Kuan Yimby @LeeKuanYimby]

I hate how pompous this sounds, but I seriously worry we won't survive the combination of how stupid we're becoming and how insanely high our expectations for our standard of living remain.

This is why populism is taking over politics. People desperately want to be told the system is fucking them, when the much harder truth is that a lot of us are idiots living better than 95% of the world.

We inherited an unbelievably complex system that gives us cheap food, clean water, electricity, medicine, technology and comforts that would have been unimaginable for almost all of human history.

Most of us have absolutely no idea how any of it works, couldn't rebuild any of it, and increasingly despise the institutions and people that keep it functioning. And a future of dominate cultures that don't value building or maintaining anything being in the vast majority could cause us to buckle.

We didn't build the machine or bother to understand it. We inherited it from generations that are long gone.

I'm just not sure we understand how easy it is to break something you have no idea how to build, and for it to come undone entirely. We have never had an incoming generation like this before.

I passionately hate that we are becoming anti social digital drug addicts, but in a way, I wonder if AGI in the right hands is the only hope.

I desperately want us to make it.

[Hon. Vickie Paladino @VickieforNYC]

Here’s the thing about what’s going on in NYC. There’s now a critical mass of young people who came to New York on their parents dime and treat it like a summer camp, and they’re electing each other.

Young people used to come to this city to make it. Whether it was finance, fashion, art, business, whatever. They knew it would be hard work but they craved success.

So they accepted the fact that they’d be broke and living in a share with three other people and barely making rent for most of their 20s, but would come out the other side better off for it. It was called ‘paying your dues, and the city ran like this for generations.

It was a wildly successful system.

Now they come here with a trust fund and have no interest in jobs or personal success, so they get fake nonprofit work and go into politics and ruin everyone else’s life because they have no real talent or ambition and are angry about it.

That’s how we got here.

[Mike Netter @nettermike]

This article was written by a 26 yr old college student by the name of Alyssa Ahlgren, who's in grad school for her MBA. What a GREAT perspecitve..👍🏽

My Generation Is Blind to the Prosperity Around Us!
I'm sitting in a small coffee shop near Nokomis (Florida) trying to think of what to write about. I scroll through my newsfeed on my phone looking at the latest headlines of presidential candidates calling for policies to "fix" the so-called injustices of capitalism. I put my phone down and continue to look around.

I see people talking freely, working on their MacBook's, ordering food they get in an instant, seeing cars go by outside, and it dawned on me. We live in the most privileged time in the most prosperous nation and we've become completely blind to it.

Vehicles, food, technology, freedom to associate with whom we choose.These things are so ingrained in our American way of life we don't give them a second thought.

We are so well off here in the United States that our poverty line begins 31 times above the global average. Thirty One Times!!!

Virtually no one in the United States is considered poor by global standards. Yet, in a time where we can order a product off Amazon with one click and have it at our doorstep the next day, we are unappreciative, unsatisfied, and ungrateful. ??

Our unappreciation is evident as the popularity of socialist policies among my generation continues to grow. Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez recently said to Newsweek talking about the millennial generation, "An entire generation, which is now becoming one of the largest electorates in America, came of age and never saw American prosperity."

Never saw American prosperity! Let that sink in.

When I first read that statement, I thought to myself, that was quite literally the most entitled and factually illiterate thing I've ever heard in my 26 years on this earth. Many young people agree with her, which is entirely misguided.

My generation is being indoctrinated by a mainstream narrative to actually believe we have never seen prosperity. I know this first hand, I went to college, let's just say I didn't have the popular opinion, but I digress.

Why then, with all of the overwhelming evidence around us, evidence that I can even see sitting at a coffee shop, do we not view this as prosperity? We have people who are dying to get into our country.

People around the world destitute and truly impoverished. Yet, we have a young generation convinced they've never seen prosperity, and as a result, we elect some politicians who are dead set on taking steps towards abolishing capitalism.

Why? The answer is this,?? my generation has only seen prosperity. We have no contrast. We didn't live in the great depression, or live through two world wars, the Korean War, The Vietnam War or we didn't see the rise and fall of socialism and communism.

We don't know what it's like to live without the internet, without cars, without smartphones. We don't have a lack of prosperity problem. We have an entitlement problem, an ungratefulness problem, and it's spreading like a plague."

[Hunter Biden @HunterBiden]

@Kenneth_Belkin Do I look like I’m a part of the elite oligarch class. This was taken at a super 8 motel off I95 by the way.

[Yogi @Houseofyogi]

Mamdani is lying to you. He didn't turn a $12B budget deficit to $0.

Spark notes: He inflated the deficit by $8B compared to Adams, brought it back down, then closed the rest with one-off bailout funds from Kathy Hochul who's desperate for a win.

Funny thing is most of you morons believe it. The entire Democratic party is cheering a lie while "cooking" the books.

New York City has been LEGALLY REQUIRED to balance its budget every single year since 1975. State law. The Financial Emergency Act. Passed after the city almost went bankrupt and Gerald Ford told them to drop dead.

Mamdani's own budget message brags this is the 47th consecutive balanced budget. Bloomberg balanced. de Blasio balanced. Adams balanced. Giuliani balanced.

Crediting Mamdani for balancing the budget is like crediting a taxi driver for stopping at a red light.

Now the $12 billion. Adams left office with a projected FY27 gap of $4.69 billion.

So where did the extra eight billion come from?

Mamdani's own team. They walked in and moved hidden spending back onto the books: rental assistance, shelter ops, special ed reimbursements, NYPD overtime. Legit cleanup work.

Then they ran to a podium and called it a deficit they inherited.

They printed the number. Then they took credit for printing the number.

How did they "close" it? Half came from Albany. Hochul wrote a check: $8 billion in state aid over two years.

THIS IS NOT SUSTAINABLE. HE DIDN'T FIX ANYTHING.

Mamdani's signature millionaire's tax? KILLED by Hochul.

Corporate rate hike? KILLED.

Free buses he ran on? KILLED.

CityFHEPS expansion he campaigned on? He's in court right now fighting it.

Then there's the pension trick.

$1.64 billion of the "savings" comes from extending pension amortization from 2032 to 2037.

The Citizens Budget Commission called it "a pension gimmick" that "balances this budget on the backs of future New Yorkers."

William Glasgall, Volcker Alliance, said it "creates a debt that's more expensive than muni bonds."

And the kicker.

The budget IS NOT ADOPTED. Council votes June 30. The state budget the whole thing depends on was still not enacted as of last week.

Out-year gaps under Mamdani's own numbers:
FY2028: $7.1 billion
FY2029: $8.5 billion
FY2030: $9.8 billion

The hole grew $5.4 billion in three months.

So the real headline. Hochul cut a check. Future workers eat the pension bill. The structural deficit is BIGGER than the day he walked in.

They didn't fix anything. They moved it.

The math: $4.69B real gap. $8B from Hochul. $1.64B pension can-kick. $25.9B in future gaps.

He didn't balance the books. But he's gambling your future and kicking the can down the road.

So maybe stop celebrating. But what do I know. Good luck.

[Melissa Chen @MsMelChen]

The most vomit-inducing subspecies of professional victimhood crusaders is the privileged PoC woke brigade.

You've seen some familiar archetypes. The Brahmin Indian transplant, born at the literal top of the caste pyramid where they’ve been stepping on untouchables for generations, who parachutes into the West and immediately starts cosplaying as some brown skinned underdog railing against “systemic oppression." Meanwhile, their family still runs half the tech visas and corner store empires back home.

Or the Gucci-clad son of a Turkish multi-millionaire, living off generational wealth from blood money LARPing as a revolutionary firebrand against capitalism.

And now, lo and behold, that New Yorker writer who pens glowing essays about “micro-looting” Whole Foods. Of course she grew up in a goddamn mansion. Of course her parents were running a full-scale human trafficking operation that turned Filipino teachers into indentured servants - predatory loans at 60% interest, deportation threats, the works. $2.8 million in stolen visa fees, luxury resort bribes for school admins, the whole predatory grift. DHS literally ruled it was “a severe form of trafficking in persons.” Her family got caught and had to forfeit the mansion and the Mercedes fleet, pled to conspiracy, and got off with 3 months’ probation and a slap on the wrist.

Remember also Lydia Mugambe, that UN judge with an Oxford law doctorate, the “human rights” warrior who spent her days pontificating about protecting the vulnerable… who was caught literally enslaving her own housekeeper in a modern slavery racket? LOL

These people are the worst kind of frauds. Loudly protesting their “oppression” while perched on piles of unearned privilege and family exploitation. It’s the exact same energy as the rapey male feminist. The lady doth protest too much, methinks - Shakespeare nailed it centuries ago. That over-the-top virtue signaling is always a cover for the skeletons in their own closets.

Never trust them, not for a second. The louder they cosplay the oppressed, the harder you should look at the mansion, the trust fund, the parents, the FRAUD, and the housekeeper they’re probably underpaying in cash.

[Maya Luna @envisionedluna]

A European-style Social Democracy requires 3 core values:

- Commitment to civic duty (respecting laws, taxes, & public spaces)
- Love of country
- Punishment for bad actors

American leftism defines itself in hostile opposition to these values which is why it will never succeed

[Gary Cardone @GaryCardone]

Most certainly not what I voted for or intended for when I donated 12.8 bitcoin to Trump's team.

I tried, I put my energy behind a wrecking ball to drain the swamp, to stop war, my intentions were good, if not naive and childish to think after 65 years the corrupt american political system could be dismantled.

I am left with the decision to never again support political ambitions of anyone, I distrust all professional politicians and the toilet bowl they created and encourage as an incubator for professional politicians.

I am and shall seek out and align with those who are freedom fighters, who believe in peace, in humanity, in the the right for others to live freely, openly, and creatively as communities who are not repressed or oppressed by any government or body.

I build around me a massive community of champions, of hero's, those who choose to use their voice irrespective of the attacks that come from speaking the truth for the betterment of humanity. Who wants to join?

The Right Thing to Do is the Right Thin, irrespective of how convenient it may or may not be.

Stand up, Voice up, Man up; this is your defining moment we should all be judged on.

Do I / you choose to; 'go along to get along', or 'fight back against insanity, traps, corruption, enslavement, oppression, surveilance and stand up like a man and fight those that enslave humanty"

Our species requires it of you.

[James Li @5149jamesli]

I agree with everything this guy says about Israel and the war with Iran, but something about him makes me not trust him. Just my gut feeling... 🤷‍♂️

[hunter @hxxntrr]

stop applying for bank loans like a normal person

there are $2.3 billion in government grants available right now that you never have to pay back

not loans. not credit. free money from the federal government sitting in databases that 99% of business owners have never opened

https://t.co/qroTJxGzyK has 1,900+ active grant opportunities RIGHT NOW. the SBA has grants. the USDA has grants for rural businesses. the department of energy has grants for clean tech. state governments have their own programs. cities have their own programs. there are grants specifically for:

women-owned businesses (SBA Women's Business Centers + Amber Grant: $10,000 monthly, $25,000 annually)
veteran-owned businesses (StreetShares Foundation, VetFran)
minority-owned businesses (MBDA grants, National Urban League)
businesses in rural areas (USDA Rural Business Development Grants up to $500K)
businesses in specific industries (SBIR/STTR grants for tech and research: $275K-$1.5M)
businesses creating jobs in underserved areas (Community Development Block Grants)

nobody applies because the application process is intentionally intimidating. 20-40 page proposals. budgets. timelines. impact statements. most business owners see the requirements and close the tab

that's exactly what they want. fewer applicants means less competition means higher approval rates for the people who actually submit

SBIR grants (Small Business Innovation Research) give tech startups $275K in Phase 1 and up to $1.5M in Phase 2. the acceptance rate for Phase 1 is around 25%. one in four. that's insanely high for free money. most people assume it's 1% and don't bother

USDA Rural Business Development Grants go up to $500K for businesses in rural areas. if your business operates outside a major metro, you might qualify. population threshold varies but generally towns under 50,000 population. a huge portion of America qualifies

the Amber Grant gives $10,000 every month to a woman-owned business. the application is one page. one page for $10,000 in free money. they've given away millions and the applicant pool is embarrassingly small relative to eligible businesses

btw, the application is not about your business. it's about their mission. every grant-making organization has specific goals. job creation. innovation. community impact. environmental improvement. your application needs to show how YOUR business accomplishes THEIR goals. frame everything around impact, not revenue

hire a grant writer if the grant is over $50K. professional grant writers charge $2,000-$5,000 and have 40-60% success rates. spending $3,000 to access $275K is the best ROI in business

apply to 10-15 grants simultaneously. it's a numbers game. the people winning grants are applying to everything they qualify for, not just one and praying

now combine this with 0% credit:

get $150K in 0% business credit to fund operations TODAY while your grant applications process (grants take 60-180 days). if you get approved for a $275K SBIR grant, the grant money pays off the credit cards. you've been operating on free capital the entire time and now have $275K in non-dilutive funding with zero debt

even the government wants to give you money. you just never asked

(we build full capital stacks: 0% credit + grant positioning + SBA. link in bio for business owners doing $250k+/yr)

[signüll @signulll]

& it’s not just llm’s telling you.

you are in a reinforcement loop when you’re on the internet & you don’t even realize it.

[Santiago Guerra @SaantiagoGuerra]

Detrás de un joven de izquierda que quiere cambiar el mundo, hay una familia de derecha que paga las cuentas.

[Pyramid Libertarian Party @lptnsc]

@OwenShroyer1776

[Bridget Phetasy @BridgetPhetasy]

Something I’ll never understand about this era — people will burn down relationships with real life friends or family members…for a politician? Or a podcaster? Someone they’ve never met and who doesn’t care about them at all and they’ll toss real friends away.

[Jack @jackunheard]

Whoa. This Iranian woman has some strong words for the Left...

“Democrats are brainwashed."

I don’t understand how you guys can support the killing of 40,000 people over the past 3 weeks."

"You guys are fake humanitarians.”

Is she wrong?

[Liam Out Loud @liam_out_loud]

Here's why leftists are suddenly defenders of Iranian sovereignty.

Within a worldview that adheres to objective morality, it would not make sense for leftists to support the Iranian regime.

Women were beaten for showing their hair. Protesters have been jailed, tortured, and killed. Gay people face prison or worse.

Silence.

Now Trump strikes the regime, and we're supposed to be upset about Iranian sovereignty.

This disparity in outrage doesn't make sense through an objective moral lens, but it does through a leftist worldview of power.

In their view, Western patriarchal capitalist Christian nations are the cause of all evil, while everyone else is a helpless victim.

Anything that harms the cause of all evil is good. Anything that helps the cause of all evil is bad.

This is leftist morality in a nutshell.

Herbert Marcuse called it "liberating tolerance": tolerate movements that weaken the West, be intolerant of those that strengthen it.

Even Michel Foucault openly cheered the Iranian Revolution—not because he loved Islamism, but because he saw it as a revolt against Western hegemony.

For leftists, morality is not universal but strategic.

If a regime opposes the West, it's complicated, nuanced, and contextualized.

If the West opposes any non-Western nation, it's imperial aggression.

That's the entire moral architecture.

Without double standards, they'd have no standards at all.