I enjoy history, economics, politics, foreign policy and technology. I’m actually fairly knowledgeable about some of it. Over educated but under-credentialed. I have a fondness for Existentialism and Judaism.
891 followers 371 following 9,609 posts
view profile on Bluesky 
It's quite funny how "The Argument" was presented as a left/liberal publication and they were incapable of holding that pretense for a nanosecond, the whole thing has been "you should post on X," "you should be nice to your MAGA family members," and "JD Vance isn't so bad."
I have been away and didn't see this. It is really is "proof of life," then. Christ.
I would be interested in knowing how he presents himself. Is he seated or standing? Is his posture normal? Does he have a glazed look? Does he speak clearly and in full (for Trump) sentences? Does his hand look healed? Go full Kremlinology “the Premier has a cold.”
Now that Intel is in hock to the Trumpist federal government, eliminating its commitments to help fund efforts to bring non-whites into the tech sector had to go too It's just racism, all the way down
And people wonder why India is edging closer to China.
Space Force flies the Starfleet flag. They should move to San Francisco.
Yeah, this is proof of life. apnews.com/article/spac...
The last five days have been “Weekend at Trumpie’s” at the White House.
Others have mentioned it but it is strange he now wears hats all the time and never ties, too.
In the sitcom The Ghost and Mrs. Muir do you think Mrs. Muir/Hope Lang ever worried that this creepy old guy was walking through walls and being invisible around her kids? Or was she like “oh he’s a sea captain they are totally fine around kids”? I wonder things sometimes.
Neoliberal economics/politics is a failure. Dismantled protections and throwing money at rich people is a failure for everyone who isn’t rich. We need a new approach. We need a new deal.
Neoliberal economics/politics is a failure. Dismantled protections and throwing money at rich people is a failure for everyone who isn’t rich. We need a new approach. We need a new deal.
This is hilariously dumb and so likely correct.
BREAKING: Judge Breyer rules that President Trump's deployment of the military to Los Angeles violated the Posse Comitatus Act, says Trump is using military as a "national police force with the president as its chief." Injunction granted. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Standing or sitting, Trump may well speak in relatively complete sentences this afternoon. If he does, the "Playbook" types and so forth are going to chuckle and tut-tut everyone. I think the list here offers a realistic view. Keep it in mind, pass it along.
Don’t forget Susan Collins’ slightly furrowed brow!
And then he will use the “state of war” as an excuse to continue tariffs. Then nuke Chicago.
Even money someone told Trump about the opening plot of Tom Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger” and he’s going to announce that any plane leaving Venezuela without an approved flight plan provided to the US Navy will be shot down.
Even money someone told him about the opening plot of Tom Clancy’s “Clear and Present Danger” and he’s going to announce that any plane leaving Venezuela without an approved flight plan provided to the US Navy will be shot down.
If only the occupant of the Oval Office wasn’t a complete idiot.
Morning Bluesky. Belgium will recognise the Palestinian state at the UN General Assembly later this month, Reuters reports.
If there was a demand for reasoned and educated debate on subjects there would be a demand for a private forum. Right now we have demand for free democratized unfiltered opinion.
I am not going to speculate, but watch if he’s standing or seated.
So if you homeschool ten kids you can make $80k? That’s better than teachers earn for dealing with a full classroom and DeSantis’ goons.
US foreign policy update: friends alienated, enemies united, armed forces spreading mulch in DC. MAGA
This is a big deal. Immigrants perform a lot of labor Americans won’t do. This means these jobs will likely go unfilled.
I read Semafor regularly, but it is frustrating in that it never puts anything into context or makes a conclusion.
Results so stunningly clear they inspired this classic xkcd (xkcd.com/2400/):
A good time to reup this "Peanuts" strip from January 7, 1967, back when there was ample living memory of how terrible measles was and why we should want to eradicate it.
If you appreciate this analysis, please consider a small donation to support this office’s work. Thank you very much. - RZ ko-fi.com/dick_nixon
My understanding is that it’s heavily weighted to a few technology stocks. I don’t follow the stock market, so just repeating what I’ve seen and read.
I assume someone knows what that room is and could hazard a guess who might be throwing stuff out the window.
I assume Vance is being questioned and threw the bag that contained the poison out the window.
Trump is dead and they are throwing out the sack Vance used to carry in the poison.
I’m pretty sure I saw this on “Yes, Prime Minister” and Sir Humphrey cautioned against it.
Since Trump is dead there’s no one to refute it until the Politburo announces the death and his successor.
A governor.
The Philosophy of Fashion existentialcomics.com/comic/618
After news broke that Indonesian parliamentarians get a monthly housing allowance nearly 10× the minimum wage, you’d expect the savvy elites to lay low… and maybe keep an eye out for guillotines. Not Rep. Ahmad Sahroni, though.
This wasn’t written by Trump.
What the State of Israel is doing in Gaza is a clear crime against humanity. Netanyahu and his ministers should be dragged to an international court. I’m old enough to remember when the US bombed Serbia over the war crimes in Kosovo.
If Russia really did use GPS jamming against the plane carrying the President of the European Commission, then let’s be blunt. That is an act of war. They would have attempted to assassinate the leader of the EU.
The right-wing will still oppose it, but all this does is show yet again that the Israeli government is okay with terrorism. www.haaretz.com/israel-news/...
When the US converts the submarine fleet to diesel the Chinese will see the true power of the American petrostate.
Starmer has a vision? Is it Thatcher?
Happy corporate friendly milquetoast alternative to May Day to all you Americans.
“Remigration” is a rebranding of ethnic cleansing.
Trump is dying. Vance has been poisoning his Diet Cokes.
I like low skill musicianship.
“Weekend at Bernie’s” baby.
The future is electric generated without fossil fuels.
I’m in the camp that neo-liberal economics/politics is the root cause. Reducing protections and throwing money at the oligarchs is a failure and right now no one except the populists/fascists are proposing an alternative to neo-liberalism. We need someone who is not a fascist to push an alternative
I'm going to be careful about how I phrase this, because we've mostly avoided it so far. I think most of you are already on this line but I want it down for the record.
The Guardian figured out the right headline for this.
I think it’s so awesome this has broken containment
When he posted about wanting to get into Heaven and afraid he was going to The Other Place it was entirely a comment made by someone who is thinking about the nearness of death. Normally people don’t worry about their final disposition since it’s theoretically not imminent.
“run these systems many times, sometimes they will be right, sometimes they will be wrong — and you never know what you are going to get. Because they live in the land of correlations between images and text, not in the land of ideas.” Interesting comment and the reason I’m posting the article.
Over the last eight months I’ve heard a lot that the US is pivoting to Asia to block China. And I just don’t see it. Everything Trump is doing strengthens China and weakens the US. Even Trump’s actions with Ukraine lead to a strengthened Chinese position in regards to Taiwan.
Motherfucker is one of the best expletives in the English language and it just doesn’t get used enough.
That Giuliani story sounds an awful lot like he'd had a few too many.
I hadn’t heard of him in so long I was wondering if he was dead.
“Since Mr Trump singled out India with an unexpectedly draconian double dose of tariffs earlier this month, he has reportedly phoned the Indian prime minister on four occasions to seek a compromise. Each time, the Indian leader refused to pick up.” (The Telegraph)
Remember, kids: A real big goal of "AI" is to entirely sever capital from labor, and no, there will be no universal basic income, you can all just starve and die, thanks www.axios.com/2025/08/26/a...
Not just ethnic cleansing, but American imperialism too,
This week's comic: Deskecration foxtrot.com/2025/08/31/d...
solid
The United States manages by crisis. Until there is a crisis it will be business as usual.
China has very few fossil fuel deposits, so energy Independence by using renewables is a national security concern. The US is energy independent with abundant fossil fuel deposit and fully paid off investments in fossil fuel electricity generation. The US has no security reason to change.
The classical fascist regimes were not invulnerable, even after seizing the reins of power: Mussolini's primiership almost collapsed during a crisis where the criminality of his movement became apparent; it was a lack of political initiative and craven opportunism that allowed him to continue on
A lot of people have a misunderstanding of how the US Constitution works. It is an enabling document granting specific authority to the Federal Government. There are two amendments that specifically state that powers not granted to the Federal Government are reserved to the states and people.
I really wish municipal organizations would stop using Facebook as the system of record for their posts.
Ethnic cleansing by any other name is ethnic cleansing.
China is going to eclipse the US based off electricity alone. They have a modern grid and have been increasingly electrifying their economy. They have massive surpluses of electricity and a lot based in renewables. The US has an aging grid and is tied to a future of burning fossil fuel for energy.
You have to know how to hate.
The Trumpenfuhrer seems intent to attack Venezuela. It may just be a ploy. It will depend on how the demented neurons fire at any given moment. The US Military will obey.
The USS Lake Erie, a guided missile cruiser, has passed through the Panama Canal into the Caribbean to join other US warships and a submarine off Venezuela.
Don’t forget we had lead in gasoline. We were all suffering from lead poisoning.
John Ganz. “When The Clock Broke.” Really good political history of the conservative movement in the 90s.
Mr Paul Brennan. 7th & 8th Grade. Taught me a lot and put up with a lot of shit from an early teenage me. Mr Arthur Papandrea. 10th, 11th and 12th Grade. He was a Korean War veteran and told us about his personal experience in the war. I had already known a lot of history from my dad.
Mr Paul Brennan. 7th & 8th Grade. Taught me a lot and put up with a lot of shit from an early teenage me. Mr Arthur Papandrea. 10th, 11th and 12th Grade. He was a Korean War veteran and told us about his personal experience in the war. I had already known a lot of history from my dad.
Do most of you know the US really is positioning an invasion force near Venezuela?
Amusing read. I don’t believe in Hell or Heaven, but sometimes I do wish that there was some justice in Existence.
I'm not surprised... at all.
On Labor Day, we rise together. While billionaires buy up our government, we’re coming together to demand a country that puts workers first. Find an event near you: www.mobilize.us/mayd...
The actual Nazis put incompetent nutbags in charge of things too.
If you write Glenn Greenwald’s name three times on the internet he is summoned from his dungeon to respond.
Jesse Welles is a damn gift.
I’m pretty sure I posted this here before, but it just came up on my Mastodon account so I have to share it again. Someone took the Dr Johnny Fever intros from WKRP in Cincinnati and added the songs to create a three hour radio show. Howard Hesseman was awesome. www.awphooey.com/wkrp
Getting closer to that all important Republican SCOTUS decision, because you know they are taking it.